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The Long Staircase


I would like to go down it like grass
cutting shoots
leaving fumes of butter
milk and dark laurel and God knows what else
in a white suit on Easter
the brim of my hat turned down
all the way around
with my eyes shut full of pollen
I could run into anything
even the big blacksmith
with soot on his teeth
the piano
or my blood brother
sounding the hurting horn


© Ginny Stanford