they stamp childness into floorboards
house folds them up in wideawake opendoors
billows bedsheets laundrywise
breathes them in
and out
they sing childness through walls
out windows into clearblue
house swings low a
woodendrone makingsong
hums and hugs it all the livelong day
they wind house into their plaits
wear cupboards for shoes
open house bookwise and draw
in the margins. house dogears photographs
all stickycornered crackspined and tissueleaved
they shout about house quarrelsome
feedem patacake mudwiches
dress dollypegs shoot marbles for funsies
house squints along wooden arm
says keepsies
they run rings round house widdershins
sing crosstich rainyday fingerpricks
house spells magic alphabetty
knits cobbyweb sweaters knobwristed
fixes shadows on with cobblerspegs and gob oil
they splash house kettlesteam bathtime
wriggle slipperyfish soapsuds
p’tending littlepig tadpoles
house cups chubcheeks tenderloined
buffs roughpink in terrytowel
they play sleepover. share beds pass out tumblepupped
under vanillamilk and honeyspeak
house eases a wooden buttock
on a stone chair
draws breath moth to light
they tell house seeyou clattershout doorslam
house rumbles emptybellied
coughs chalk dust
pulls greenrug round ears chillfingered
sings nighnight sleepytight seeyou
seeyou seeyou
hi Bruce, it's been a long while. and you came back with this brilliant piece. the texture, the layers, the riddle of this piece. wow. words tapdancing on this black page.
ReplyDeletewhew! whatta song and dance!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure where this was going, because I didn't immediately identify "they" as children. I like how this gets infected with childishness and winds down to seeyou seeyou. Lovely and vivid illustration of the energy children bring to a house.
ReplyDeleteAnother great piece, love the language in this one, captures the young so well.
ReplyDelete