13 Ways of Looking at an Elevator
By Dan Crisler
I
Among four possible floors
The only floor I need
Is floor number three.
II
It consisted of five stops
Like a train
For which there are five groups.
III
Doors closed at the push of a button.
It is a large annoyance to those
Left behind.
IV
The stairs and an escalator
Are one.
The stairs and an escalator and an elevator
Are one.
V
I know which to prefer
Efficiency of a motor
Or inefficiency of steps
Elevator churning
Or motoring.
VI
Steel filled the doorframe
With hardly a smidgen
The position graphic above
Increased, stopped, and decreased.
That button
It ever glows
Waiting to go off.
VII
O dear elevator of Beadle Hall
Why are you ever so slow?
Do you not know it is 10 o’ clock,
Which will detract
Two points from Slytherin?
VIII
I know of healthy exercise
And repetitive, burning steps
But I know, too,
The value of conserving energy
For my well-being.
IX
When the graphic read number three,
It prompted a sigh
From many bottom-dwellers.
X
At the sight of fluorescent
Bouncing off beige walls,
Even those most pessimistic
Would cry out in joy.
XI
He rode past the lower floors
In a steel box
Once, a force applied to him
In which he mistook
Being pulled down
When he was actually going up.
XII
That motor is running,
The elevator must be working.
XIII
It is a gloomy feeling
Going up
For it is admitting
That class
Is approaching.
