Transfiguration Begins At Home

The “Cinderella Staircase” divided upstairs
from downstairs its curves of elegance
branded early on the child who turned it
into a story over and over again
The person who started at the top was
never the person who reached the bottom
The one who climbed it from the bottom was
always different at the top Cinderella
could turn into a princess A prince could
turn into a frog Before a father could
descend it with a daughter on his arm
to give her away in marriage a daughter
would ascend it with a father on her arm
to give him away to silence Anything
is possible

Estha Weiner
“Transfiguration Begins at Home” is from the collection Transfiguration Begins at Home (Tiger Bark Press, 2009), and has also appeared in The Mistress Manuscript (Book Works, 2009); The Poets’ Grimm (Story Line Press, 2003); and Rattapallax, 2000.