One for Today

SMELL THE ELEVATOR GREASE

I smell the elevator grease
As I push the button to
Go down, down, down
Into the basement of my life,
This time to do the laundry, but
In the same direction I
Take at night, going down
To all the undone things that
Worry me. I
Keep unlived dreams below my
Sleep; the things I believed
Were possible once, and even now
Cannot release to yesterday.

Dancing in a grade school wedding dress
I would wear with gardenias in my
Hair, under the cool blue
Light of bluest moons, catching
Stars on the tips of my fingers and
Wishing on them until I, too, grew
Full. I was to fall in love with
Men as luscious as sonnets, swooning over
Their youth hostel eyes and bearing
The children they planted in my
Womb like oats, each child
Miraculous, until, too fulfilled for speech
I would compose a waterfall of rhyming words
Both powerful and sweet, with subtle
Undertones of meaning that were nothing
Like these.

Instead I step back into the
Elevator, still reeking of its grease, my
Laundry done, even if my dreams are
Not. The weatherman says it may
Rain today. I press the button that says
Up.