after the photograph by Roy DeCarava

What do we know about Shirley?
She is standing at the top of a stairwell
She is leaning on the banister
in such a way that we know,
because of how she trusts the rail,
leaning her most intimate parts against it,
that she lives here. That she has leaned
against this simple wood many times before,
knows it will hold her without complaint.

What do we know about Shirley?

Her back is straight, her arms lean,
and we sense the muscled legs
beneath the simple cotton dress.
Something feral, waiting.
Every day she carries fear
like groceries, five stone flights
to set it down against the wood.

What do we know about Shirley?
We know she had a child.
She rests her rounded belly on the rail.
An emptied womb still holds
the shape of fruit.

What do we know about Shirley?
This is where she lives.
Worry lives with her.
She bids farewell to her boy child
every time he descends the stair.