I was promised a door.

The weathered sign above the window,
sagging and sighing in the grey,
older than me and yet–

I am walking by, remembering how sugar maples spread
their baby’s wings

a small fluttering with faith in time

[my grandfather’s pocket watch stopped ticking as soon as I put it in my pocket
the silver clicks and gears as foreign to me as a hieroglyphic
and no way in]

I want the tea leaves to reveal a million open doors for you, my love.

-*

Lacy Cunningham is a writer based in Boulder, CO, by way of Pittsburgh, PA. She is the author of a chapbook entitled The Hospital Papers published by Stamped Books Press, and has been featured in :lexicon (where she received the 2007 poetry prize), Ophelia Street, Pear Noir!, Springgun Press, and Raising Mothers. Once upon a time she was an actor and has portrayed both The Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.