Sanctuary Stairs
I gather her head up in my sweater
and we crouch here
some dried ketchup where her lip turns down
a light crust of dirt on one eyebrow
the concrete stained and worn
surprise rain splattered in the gap
between here and the parking lot
our socks are wet
our feet itch
then her cough started
it’s going to be ok we can hide her for a minute
her damp head soaks the wool
the corners reek of urine
we do a sober trick
my body now a cradle
her hair touches my wrist
she trembles down to her cavity
a cough we love
the careless future emerges from it
shaking like a star bracelet with elastic
in this other country
the contradictory music of our tears
what do wandering souls find
to live in here
what warm skin
in this stairwell
the air is cold
the earth moves
one bug survives
beyond their law
three of us hunched
up like a heaps of wet wool
in the leaky crook of a stair
you heard about us somewhere
Copyright Credit: Jared Stanley, "Sanctuary Stairs." Copyright © 2019 by Jared Stanley. Used by permission of the author for PoetryNow.
Source: PoetryNow (2019)