I am on a spiral staircase high up in the air.
With no idea where it is going, but the staircase must end somewhere.
So I started down the spiral staircase, going around and around.
Walking forever downward, but never getting closer to the ground.
As I walk down this spiral staircase, my heart begins to race.
With urgency to get down this spiral staircase, I have to pick up my pace.
Walking forever, going around and around.
Daylight is fading into darkness, and I cannot hear any sound
It seemed I had walked for hours down this spiral stair.
Forever walking around and around but not getting anywhere.
This walk down the spiral staircase has got my mind confused.
But I keep walking downwards what have I got to lose?
I have walked for hours, and the end is now in sight.
Where am I what will I find my chest is getting tight
I HAVE FINSHED WALKING DOWN THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE AND I am broken hearted
Because at the end of the spiral staircase, I am right back where I started.
I climb a staircase of salt
toward a memory
that never took shape.
Each step dissolves
into a mist of thought,
and above,
I am but a drop
in a dreaming cloud.
Shadows
clinging to steps,
grain worn by years~
voice drifts between each tread,
pausing where the past often
hesitates
Vignette
(For Nette Onclaud's "Visions of a Vignette 2" contest)
(dated 23.06.2025)
I climb
spiraling steps
with gold railing,
huge stairs reaching heaven,
(like angels in Jacob's dream)
bound upward...
come up
dear special child
courage now moves
as faith propels by God's grace
from wheelchair, let's reach the top...
hope triumphs*.
*2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
June 23, 2025
2nd place, "VISIONS OF A VIGNETTE 2" Verse Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Nette Onclaud; judged on 6/24/2025
shadow
shimmies up stairs
catches my eye
and ceasing its pursuit
stops so I can snap its soul
coiled and still
Oh my!
This sly staircase,
a coiled serpent,
struck on the Christmas eve
when stars blinked through the dark veil,
still it lurks.
Walking up...
the spiral treads
Step after step
Climbing up to the top
Going around and around
I'm dizzy
staircase
ascending where
incandescent
stars are stalactites
hanging in a sapphire sky
of satin
around
about us wend
spiraling fates,
treading sills as lame cats
or children unsure of fruit
wink at chance
Spiral,
Ascends upward
Rising above,
Enlightening the mind
Then slowly, bringing you home
Stable roots
Sponsor's Name: Nette Onclaud
Contest Title: 'Visions of a Vignette 2'
Date: 06/21/2025
What waits
beyond the top~
golden and worn
from countless going up
those fair wooden stairs, but none
coming down?
stairway
to heaven bound
has step-wise tiers
strewn with slippery slides
snaking down to land head first ~
rung hamstrung
it began with a creak,
low and hollow,
as if the staircase exhaled a secret
meant only for me.
at first, i told myself it was nothing—
just the old bones of the house shifting,
just the wind brushing the eaves.
but then came the whisper:
soft, deliberate,
threading through the night like cold fingers.
“come closer,” it said.
i stayed still.
the air thickened.
my heart tapped out a rhythm of warnings,
but my feet moved anyway,
dragged by some unseen thread.
the stairs groaned louder with every step,
their song ancient, mournful, alive.
at the bottom, the dark opened wide—
a void where the walls used to be.
and there, in the center,
a door i had never seen,
its edges slick with something
that shimmered even in shadow.
my hand trembled as it touched the handle,
a warmth pulsing beneath my palm.
the door opened,
and i saw—
no, felt—
a thousand eyes turn toward me.
i slammed it shut,
but the whispers remain.
they follow me now,
each night,
each dream,
calling me back to the stairs.
Here’s a staircase to nowhere
You can try to climb on top
Just to see the world from there
While ascending, you can drop
See the steps are wet and rotten
Loose, unsafe and slippery
What is up there you've forgotten?
What do you expect to see?
“There's no view, but an old station
Which was built of wood and stone
I assume there's renovation
Could be an industrial zone
I can't say why I must be there
No one is supposed to know
So I follow steps to nowhere
It’s the way for me to go.”
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