The poem describes the mother’s experience on a staircase, which is in a state of disrepair and generally unsafe, although functional in getting from one place to another. However, the staircase is actually an extended metaphor for America as a whole, and for the contrasting journeys different people take through life. In this context, the dangerous obstacles that one must be mindful of when climbing the staircase are representative of the larger obstacles minority identities, and in particular Black Americans, face when trying to attain a better way of life. Unlike white people (as well as other majorities like cisgender, straight, and Christian people), Black people face a network of pitfalls every step of the way. In this way the staircase works as a metaphor for the social and cultural state the poet was trying to draw attention to.