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05 April 2011

the escalator

gliding at an angle
metallic teeth turning
I move without moving

words pirouette
scraping the edge
of my attention

his briefcase
nicks my ankle

her belongings
scrape my thigh

the handrail
moves
a beat slower
than the steps

my resting wrist
slowly
pulled behind me

a mutated arabesque

I dance
without trying

offered as part of One Stop Poetry's One Shot Wednesday

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

An interesting read and original. I liked this, a lot going on in very few words. :)

Brian Miller said...

nice...and you have many partners in it if even for just a brush by

Christine said...

Great stuff here, I think I am that escalator some days.

Anonymous said...

Love it - I completely empathise - I ride an escalator like that everyday :) Thank you for sharing

Unknown said...

I feel claustrophobic just reading this. I know it is more about the dance of our day to day, but I sometimes have a hard time finding the positive in being squashed together with strangers.

cat cray said...

lori I can empathise, and I feel like that too sometimes, especially on escalators

Dragonblogger said...

Enjoyed it, ironically I wrote a poem about escalators last week (or specifically the fear of escalators).

Unknown said...

Interesting, I am terrified of escalators.

KB said...

A dance with strangers on the escalator. Love it.

Anonymous said...

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your poem...it is abstract, so very unique and conveys a lot about life through an escalator ride...the originality and unique description really had me riding on the words of your poem and the way the steps diminish into nothing like the days of our lives...great poem...

Marshy said...

very well written....reminds me of when i worked in london, commuting on the underground and the faces passing on the escalotors

Bubba said...

Yeah, why can't they keep the handrails in sync with the steps? (LOL!)

Jannie Funster said...

That's why I always take the stairs! Even in tall buildings.

Awesome poem!!

The City Road said...

I like to polish my shoes against the brushes that prevent trash getting caught in the escalator treads.

Of course, I stand obediently to the right; there is only a shine to the outside of my right shoe, and the inside of my left.

Enjoying the longer form poems, had only seen you in haiku mode until now.

cat cray said...

glad you like the longer me! I always stand to the right too..