the deepening 

the hallway is not part of the house anymore.
none of us discuss this 
but we're all sure we're walking 
in a telescope or maybe
a train tunnel. 
are we trains or rats?
not a train tunnel though a cavern 
& there have been stalactites growing from
the ceiling like crooked teeth for months.
the landlord won't like this. 
i take out my flashlight to search the hall. 
glowing rocks.
bats folded up like paper notes. they dangle
by their feet-- swing like wind chimes. 
or maybe the hallway is
the inside of one of our bones. that would
explain the redness. the grainy marrow 
all along the walls. i feel everyone 
walking in my arm. no this is a hallway 
just a hallway. always getting longer.
have you ever met a hallway that doesn't 
keep trying to be longer? 
the stretching
of the tunnel. 
the train approaching
but never arriving. yes we are engines
& the trains screech 
from lack of use.
no this is the torso of a sapling. 
thin & wiry & considering thickness. 
a torrent of water sucked 
from the dirt. the roots
woven across each of our doors. 
an organism throbbing in between. 
i want to live in the hallway
& have everyone else step over me. i want to
wrap myself in grape leaves-- keep myself
soft & touched with oil. i pluck a rock
from the ceiling just to find that it was in fact
a tooth. veins trailing down from it. the hallway 
is a throat with teeth. we don't want to know
what animal we're inside. everyone else
sticks to other areas of the house. no one
leaves the hallway the same. 
the teeth are mirrors
that show you more 
& more versions of your own face.
a sense of swallowing. 
the muscles that force a body
all the way down the wet red tunnel. 
there are so many
openings on the body. 
there is only one hallway
& it doesn't know what to do 
with itself just like we aren't sure 
what we can do with it. 
it's a disobedient hallway. 
it's supposed to be wood
& it's supposed to stand there stagnant with 
the light on 
& we're supposed to walk to our rooms.
the hallway is volatile-- 
not to be trusted.
we could have the hallway surgically removed
but then what would be 
without a hallway
to get here & there & here & there.
there's a hallway for what you need.
there's a no door 
just the deepening.
i invite strangers over because i have to.
i put them in my mouth one at a time
& swallow.