skyscraper


GROUND LEVEL

     1. lobby
A magnate foresaw art deco brilliance,
chrome, statue-of-liberty colored spires.
a breathing tower, monument to industry,
the new deal, and navajo workers 
who walked and fell from 
naked rivets and I-beams. Mercury-vapor
spotlights aiming into a dark, hazy
summer 
heaven.

     2. bank of elevators
The elevator attendant first heard
voices
at fourteen. Neuroleptics quieted them;
involuntary movements and vertigo were 
just side effects.


EXPRESS

     3. sixteen through thirty
A fluorescent light flashes angrily,
dangerous to migraine sufferers
and epileptics:

Compound
insect-eye cameras
have recorded, analyzed,
and liability-assessed many
attacks and seizures.

     4. fortysix through fiftyseven
The car from lobby to fiftythree 
was full of people, 
some of them had the furtive, slick look
of the desperately rich.


NORTHWEST STAIR, NO ROOF ACCESS

     5. eleventh floor, second landing
We chose to go the long way, a scenic route where
rust grows on the walls, parasitic
like leprosy or termites, and banister rails
shed layer after layer of paint,
become slick and shiny
after passing hands smooth the frosted steel.

     6. sixteenth floor, second landing
She asked to hear a story while we rested:
Three people here were crushed when three-hundred
tumbled during a fire drill.

     7. fiftythird floor, first landing
Closer to the wheezing intakes,
silence became a test of will.
I wanted to share my realization:
This building inhaled constantly.


NORTH STAIR, ROOF ACCESS

     8. twentyninth floor, first landing
In a small alcove on the left, 
just outside security cameras,
deceitful husbands secret away 
with indiscreet wives late
afternoons,
flecks of rust clinging to their
sleeves and in their hair.

     9. fiftyseventh floor, second landing
The architect hoped to design
for eighty floors. When he reached this level,
the structure and economy defeated him. 

     10. roof
The radio says there was a time when no one 
could count the stars from this city. 
I count seventythree, but can find no more.

©1999 Timothy A. Clark