Nightmares of Slant

KarenL.George

~ Inspired by Escher's Relativity, 1953

What is it about a jumble of indoor staircases that recur in my dreams, so steep I’m in danger of tumbling backwards, narrow treads feet won’t fully fit on, toes poking risers, or open risers where creatures snatch my ankles from below? Dead-end landings, missing or rickety railings, rusted steel steps, wooden ones that squeak with each footfall, those that give way. Spiral, floating flights with air where the next stair should be. When age 10, I bolted from attic room to kitchen hallway, a game to see how fast I could thunder down them, never a thought of misstep, plummet. Now, 70 & arthritic, grateful for a ranch condo one step up from the garage, but care’s needed on icy, wet, uneven surfaces. Dreams of ascent and descent, never arriving where I want to go, staircase mazes make me ponder the brain intricate inner grids, labyrinths of circuitry—miraculous, monstrous.

Karen L. George is a Kntucky author of three poetry collections from Dos Madres Press: Swim Your Way Back (2014), A Map and One Year (2018), and Where Wind Tastes Like Pears (2021). She won Slippery Elm’s 2022 Poetry Contest, and her short story collection, How We Fracture, which won the Rosemary Daniell Fiction Prize, is forthcoming from Minerva Rising Press in Spring 2023. Her work appears in Adirondack Review, Atticus Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Indianapolis Review, and Poet Lore. Her website is: https://karenlgeorge.blogspot.com/