Tonight's Poet Corner: These Stairs

These Stairs
by Belinda Roddie

These stairs don't lead
to anywhere. The ceiling hits
your head on cue. The pills
you pop to alleviate the ache are
temporary escapes from reality. Because

when you were young, you
were told that you could build
an escalator to heaven if
you figured out the mechanics. And now,

in an abandoned house of nervous breakdowns,

you feel the steps pushing you against
a limit. A barrier. Another wall
to send you stumbling backward into
another hellhole of a hall.