Don’t just
open them,
raise the blinds

is slang

for find your scene
in a painted shoebox.
Or antique suitcase

before wheels

rolled over
every effort to be
real. Gesso

and stencils

and rounded corners.
If only
I could see

a tiny door
swing open
outside my window

onto an eddy

of unknown origin.
With a spectacular
view of

a spiral staircase

modeled after
the wrought iron one
in the Trinity College

Long Room

without the competition
for attention
from a dramatic barrel

vaulted ceiling

or 200,000 old books
exuding that delicious
vanilla aroma from

disintegrating lignin.

Perhaps it could
have been
constructed from

a nautilus shell.

Sprites streak
coded messages high
in the sky

by nightfall.

Back on the ground,
it’s time to draw the curtains
in a celebration of red.