class poems

Two Stairways | Bill Cushing - Dive into the Depths of Contemporary Voices

Two Stairways | Bill Cushing

The first greets those who promenade
through the foyer to a sunken

living room; its steps—wide with
carpeted tread—ease beneath gilded panels

lined with portraits of staid patriarchs
long dead. Bright red lips brush fair cheeks,

besitos de cultura alta,
as these elegant guests parade

through the living room past a massive
dining table and walls affixed

with innocuous ceramic buttons,
doorbell fixtures to summon the help

from the kitchen hiding a second staircase:
steep, jagged, and above all concrete.

Servants—rough hands wrapped in skin darker
than the mahogany furniture

they rub to a high shine—trudge between floors
carrying the weight of meals, loads of laundry,

flutes of lemon water, and whispered curses,
triggered by constant buzzing commands.

Meanwhile, quiet worms of hate burrow, deep
yet imperceptible, into their hearts.

More at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/a-former-life-by-bill-cushing/.

Chore Woman | Roger Still - Dive into the Depths of Contemporary Voices

Chore Woman | Roger Still

She’s a figure in rags
who holds the house together
arms stretched around
this world we hold dear,
she’s the one
who held us together
in raging-flood night
and cooled the licking
flames of destroyers,
the one we never
noticed or spoke or
regarded
as a mortal being.

Best Poetry Online