Leave It at the Door

Ticket forty-seven.
One coat. One heavy year.

Leave it at the door!

The cloakroom girl has seen it all —
she takes the coat, she takes the look,
the shoulders that have carried March
through August like an overbooked
and undertipped removal job.
She hands me forty-seven, says,
"We'll keep it safe. Go on."
And something else stays with the coat —
I feel it leave my neck.
Two hours where it can't reach me.
She's hung a thousand heavy winters.
She knows exactly what she's holding.

Whatever you wore in here,
whatever wore you down —
it hangs on rail nine, sleeping.
You dance now. That's the deal.

Leave it at the door!
(forty-seven)
The coat, the weight, the year, the war.
Rail nine can hold it better than your back —
leave it at the door.

Leave it, leave it.
(at the door)
Ticket says you're free till four.

and not one of them got out.

Leave it at the door!

Funny what a body does
two hours out from under it —
my shoulders found their factory settings,
my neck remembered swans exist,
my hands went up without a meeting,
unanimous, both of them, instantly.
I danced next to a man who laughed
like laughing had been on back-order.
Rail nine held a hundred winters
and not one of them got out.
The cloakroom girl restocks the tickets.
Busiest priest in the building.

Whatever you wore in here,
whatever wore you down —
it hangs on rail nine, sleeping.
You dance now. That's the deal.

Leave it at the door!
(forty-seven)
The coat, the weight, the year, the war.
Rail nine can hold it better than your back —
leave it at the door.

Rail nine: full.
Dance floor: fuller.
Fair trade.

Rail nine is a quiet cathedral —
sleeves of every colour, resting.
The ticket's in my back pocket, safe,
warm as a coin from the dryer.

At four I handed back the ticket.
She returned the coat, and here's the thing:
it weighed what a coat should weigh.
Whatever else I'd checked in with it
had gone missing in the best way.
No claim form for that.
You're welcome, said her eyes.

Leave it at the door!
(forty-seven)
Took back the coat and nothing more.
Lighter out than I came in —
leave it at the door.

Leave it, leave it.

and not one of them got out.

Leave it at the door!