9.19.2022

if you're going to smash into the sky

As the fireman said: 
Don't book a room over the fifth floor 
in any hotel in New York. 
They have ladders that will reach further 
but no one will climb them. 
As the New York Times said: 
The elevator always seeks out 
the floor of the fire 
and automatically opens 
and won't shut. 
These are the warnings 
that you must forget 
if you're climbing out of yourself. 
If you're going to smash into the sky. 
 
Many times I've gone past 
the fifth floor, 
cranking upward, 
but only once 
have I gone all the way up. 
Sixtieth floor: 
small plants and swans bending 
into their grave. 
Floor two hundred: 
mountains with the patience of a cat, 
silence wearing its sneakers.
Floor five hundred: 
messages and letters centuries old. 
birds to drink, 
a kitchen of clouds. 
Floor six thousand: 
the stars, 
skeletons on fire, 
their arms singing. 
And a key, 
a very large key, 
that opens something—
some useful door—
somewhere—
up there. 
  

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