Staircase: Dracula's Castle, by Shirley Glubka

Staircase: Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle, Transylvania, Romania) Sonia Gernes (USA). 2017. Photo used by permission of photographer.

Staircase: Dracula's Castle

This is a dream staircase,
no sign of nightmare--
too well-lit,
with curves too clean.

And the satisfying sense of contrast, of order.
And those simple strokes.
And the gentle whites and grays.

As if a painter's brush 
held by a lover 
would gently trace 
the whole brain's shape
and call it good.

Except for the cold--
Except for the terrifying gold--

Shirley Glubka

Photographer's note: "…a favourite photo I took at Bran Castle in Romania, also known as Dracula's Castle, though he lived there only a couple of months."

Shirley Glubka is a retired psychotherapist, the author of four poetry collections, a mixed genre collection, and two novels. Her latest poetry collection is Through the Fracture in the I: Erasure Poetry; her most recent novel: The Bright Logic of Wilma Schuh. Shirley lives in Prospect, Maine with her spouse, Virginia Holmes. Website: http://shirleyglubka.weebly.com/ Online poetry at The Ekphrastic Review here; at 2River View here; at The Ghazal Page here; and at Unlost Journal here and here.