The Surreal Staircase


The surreal staircase

slides like an escalator

from one generation

to the next.

Mount the

surreal staircase

at your own risk

as you would mount

some wild beast

that could break

for freedom

at any moment

or turn to devour you

without restraint.

The surreal staircase

moves through dimensions

that stretch the joists

and tendons of perception

to a breaking point.

The surreal staircase

circles back upon itself

to relive an absurdist

moment over and again

until it is petrified

in your consciousness.

Perennial travelers

on the surreal staircase

bear the indelible stamp

of bohemian fascination.

Obsessive compulsives

on the surreal staircase

cleanse the swinging

doors of perception

until they shine

with numinous light.

Veneered celebrities

often clamber up

the surreal staircase

merely to slide down

its banister

over and again.

The banister

of the surreal staircase

often splinters

in liquid streaks

from the clasp

of too many thighs.

The ancestral paintings

that line the walls

become abstract

expressions of

their bygone selves.

Interior landscapes

can undulate

like anemones.

Step carefully now--

there is no carpet

here to break your fall.

Only meringue

and meat.