a lone button waits softly
dust gathering where touch once lived
dreaming of floors never reached
forgotten ascent
a lone button waits softly
dust gathering where touch once lived
dreaming of floors never reached
forgotten ascent
I’ve begun recycling emotions
so they’ll last longer
and we can save the rat-bag planet.
Sometimes I jump in elevators
I did it this morning
on the third floor
this guy looked at me, askance.
“Do you think you’re going to live forever?” I demanded.
Sometimes I look at Peter and think
that he’s the sexiest guy on earth
I want to ravish him - and we’re at breakfast.
Can a boyfriend be TOO perfect?
“I could do better,” I tell him, out of the blue
- because you’ve got to keep them on their toes.
“Don’t beat yourself up,” he said, looking up from his buttery-croissant, sympathetically.
“You’re doing your best,” he added.
“Wait,” I said, “what are we talking about?”
.
.
Songs for this:
What's going on by Paul Carrack
The town of Plymouth has a rock.
Each buckled shoe must have its sock.
Each open door must first be shut,
and this bolt needs no other nut.
Just as all these things are true,
This ardent "me" must have a "you".
Morning goes. Noon goes. Evening spreads its spell.
The man in the elevator knows well—
The familiar and the strange
As though beasts in weather change
Cough, giggle, groan, sigh, yawn, sneeze, scream, and yell...
Passengers in tune and tone of their own
Whether one is in a group or alone
The elevator man finds
Simpletons or masterminds
Humans are a universe of their own.
The man in the elevator pressed every floor,
Then grinned at us all like he'd settled a score.
"I'm practicing patience," he said with a wink,
"And testing if anyone's close to the brink.”
We stopped at floor two
he hummed a tune,
At three, he tap-danced,
at four, howled at the moon.
By seven, he'd fashioned a hat from his tie,
At nine, he was teaching the buttons to fly.
When finally we reached the twenty-third floor,
He bowed like a maestro and waltzed out the door,
Leaving us stunned in that small metal room
Wondering if we were the ones to assume.
The man in the elevator hastens,
He feels ill at ease, with most teeth broken;
He pushes the button, marked in red ‘Ten’,
And seems very much anxious, now and then.
But halfway up, the elevator stalls,
The man frowns, apparently quite appalled;
He presses the ‘Open’ switch, rings the bell,
And yells at top of his voice, “what the hell?”
“I need to use the restroom,” he then screams;
Soon the lift kicks open as in a dream,
A woman standing there squeaks, stern but calm,
"So late again today? You know the qualm!"
There once was a man in an elevator
Riding his elephant named Ella Vader
She felt she had to sneeze
Her man she tried to please
So, she sprayed peanuts on the curator
I know the wrong syllable count on 1, 2, and 5
The man in the elevator broke my heart
When he told me his story from the start.
A story of loss, sending chills down my spine,
Still I didn’t complain and I didn’t whine.
His tale brought me to my knees, so chilling
It felt like his whole heart he’d been spilling
His wife had left him for another, his brother
The second son of his dear, beloved mother
What he discovered, when she left him for good
Was that his heart and soul was misunderstood
The man in the elevator, I came to the conclusion
Was just a bit confused, living a fantastical illusion!
The man in the elevator had to get down at the ground floor
The elevator glided smoothly till the third floor
When about to get down, the man found to his great dismay
That the lift got stuck in the middle with all fellow travellers away
His heart began thumping fast, the air grew thicker
Drenched in sweat, he found his energy waning quicker.
Fear seized him and he couldn’t think of anything else
Losing control, a warmth running down his thighs, he did sense.
When the security staff finally came to rescue the fool
He was found squatting on the floor in a pool
He had peed on his trousers, and accepting all blame
Felt relieved to be out of that cage, though at the risk of shame.
The man in the elevator that I saw today -
(OH my gosh, I wondered how much did he weigh?)
I was looking all around (my fear I could not feign)
for the number of the pounds that the poor lift could sustain.
That man (how can I say it?) was elephantine!
His shoes I supposed to be a size sixteen.
He was taller than a baby (the kind named a giraffe).
If I weren’t in that elevator, maybe I would laugh!
There were eight of us in the elevator standing.
With him on board, we might be having a crash landing.
Before the door closed shut, I knew what I must do.
I raced past everyone, and out the door I flew.
The man in the elevator said, as to everyone's dread,
their stomachs all dropped, and the lift suddenly stopped,
"Let's philosophically think, though our situation might stink,
we don't have to work for our boss, that dumb jerk".
Yet, privately, he thought, "I've got a great spot,
next to this buxom beauty. You bet your patootie,
I'm happy as a clam in this tight jam. If we're rescued, I don't give a dam*".
The man in the elevator, who I shall name as Paul
Was standing there rigid with his back to the wall.
As the lift started moving, I heard his loud gulp
When the lift started shuddering as it slowly moved up.
The groaning and creaking seemed to make Paul's eyelashes curl
He suddenly screamed and started to swish, swoon and swirl.
The lift quickly dropped-stopped, and restarted again
It felt like we were two yo-yos inside a tumble dryer machine.
His bald head sprouted hair, his face a green tinge, his lips ruby red
Paul's man boobs were now perk, I felt jealous and a tad bit upset.
The lift soon settled and that's when I again looked at Paul
He was more like a Pauline and not the same Paul by that wall.
The man in the elevator entered with me from top floor
of a ten storied building and stood front, close to door.
Each time elevator stopped, he got out and confronting collision,
next moment he rushed to enter again taking same position.
I think, each had doubt, whether his mental condition be stable !
At last I got scope to ask him , when we reached the ground level.
He explained, her girl friend is waiting in front of the elevator.
But in which floor she is waiting, he doesn't know so far.
So he is cheking in which floor she is waiting for her lover !
He will continue to go up and down till he can find her.
I wished for him conveying ' Good Luck ' and bade bye.
He again entered the elevator , suppressing his sigh !
The Man In The Elevator Poetry Contest
Charles Messina
The man in the elevator kept staring at me
His eyes were casting a line into my sea
If only he knew I'd jump into his bucket
And be his Miss Muffet
Where this fairytale needed an open door
Before our elevator reached his floor
My palms sweated like a crying dove
Yet if only he knew I was looking for love
When his floor approached, he reeled in his line
And hot flashes rolled down my spine
Hi, can I ask you out to visit the stars
My voice softened, only if we end up on Mars
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