THE ROUTINE: SECOND DOWN THE STAIRS

by Darren C. Demaree

The boy needs some water.
The boy needs to release that water
poorly.
The boy needs

to be carried like an airplane
up the flight of stairs.
The boy
wants to nestle between the dogs

& his mother.
He wants to know
if the man in the movie with the gun
is bad.
I tell him that it’s complicated.

I tell him no gun is good, but not all
people that are holding a gun are bad.
It feels like a lie when I say it.

I ask him if he wants to be an airplane.
I go slowly up the carpeted stairs.
I don’t want to fall while I hold him.