Two Poems: Which way does an elevator go? / Two Ace Pear Ciders

by Jazmine Street Kempin

April 20, 2021

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Featured, Poetry + Short Stories

Moments ago, I had the most horrifying of thoughts / I had nearly forgot – Which way does the elevator go?

An abstract illustration of an elevator door made from brightly colored tissue paper. The elevator door is partially open with yellow light pouring out. Above the door are arrows in every direction, with the "up" arrow lit up in yellow. — An abstract illustration of an elevator door made from brightly colored tissue paper. The elevator door is partially open with yellow light pouring out. Above the door are arrows in every direction, with the “up” arrow lit up in yellow. Illustration by Ryan Edmund Thiel.

Which way does an elevator go?

Moments ago,
I had the most horrifying of thoughts
I had nearly forgot –
Which way does the elevator go?

I’d pressed the button to call the elevator
and soon found myself in a deep conversation
with myself and my reflection (of course)

I was nitpicking at my hair and how big it was.
Was it this big all along or
had it engorged from the moisture in the sky?

A *ding* announced the elevators arrival
And I stepped in the elevator’s open doors.

Behind me the door slid shut.

Alone with
my thoughts
I’m enclosed –
me in
this tiny metallic box.

The ground is humming,
and the elevator it moves.
But, for a moment
I’d forgotten…

Had a I hit the button?
Where was I going?

Which direction was I headed?

The ground continued,
humming.
I felt weightless…

My body is
floating.
My mind racing

What was does this
elevator go?
What if I’m going
sideways?
Or frontways?
or backways?

Which direction would I go
if this elevator chose?

A bell in the elevator chimed.

I fall back in my body.
My eyes drawn to
the numbers
above the door.

The number 2
glows from its plastic shell.

I was going up
I lean against the wall.
I breathe a sigh of relief.

And that’s when I realized,
how thankful I was that
Elevators
can only go in one of two directions.

Two Ace Pear Ciders

I’m lying to everyone.
But, not to you.
No you
You read me so fast/
I get dizzy when you look at me.

Thoughts
whirling and speeding through space and time
Your eyes
scanning and reading my face / this time
And I know I can’t lie to you
Why would I try?

You know me from another world.

Our souls are ‘twined
Space continuum / binds
I feel your eyes heat seeking / on mine
“You good?”
“Uh,” I laughed—I’m kinda drunk.”

Featured image: A color-blocked illustration of the inside an elevator with arrows going in different directions. The arrow facing up is yellow in constrast to the other arrows which are blue. Image by Ryan Edmund Thiel.

Jazmine K, known as Spaceyamzz, is a writer and visual artist based out of Indianapolis, IN. She co-founded Face A Face Collective, an online publication dedicated to highlighting marginalized voices in Indiana. As a writer, she’s contributed to Indianapolis Contemporary’s Abstract, and she’s currently writing her first poetry book.