One Poem by Susan Tepper

 

To The Cellars

 

In the worst parts

counting thirteen steps

you descend to the cellars

seeking extreme unction

in free fall—

Commonplace are your prayers:

The boiler chugging hot & fiery.

Lights coming on  

when the ceiling switch

is flicked.

No dirty water

from sudden squalls

hovering inches above

the concrete floor:

Metaphor or premonition—

An insistence on blue floor paint.

Finally all the leaves are down

and the tree’s dead arms stretch out

with insoluble questions.

What do I know?

Susan Tepper is a twenty year writer and the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry.  Her most recent are a poetry chap CONFESS (Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and a funky road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019). Currently, she’s in pre-production of an Off-Broadway Play she wrote and titled ‘The Crooked Heart’ based on artist Jackson Pollock in his later years. www.susantepper.com