Open House


The lane hedges are smartly cut: they have a sour-fresh smell.
On our walk, the reprieve of cool wind is brief.
Heat sticks. Cloud builds.
Stand a while by the cut-open house because such a place reeks of fascination. See the rose print curtains; drawn open for a morning that lingers in their poignant witness; and the bared stairs where feet changed direction when they did remember what they were going to do after all. Why is memory so easily lost and found in a stairwell?
Footings for more space are dug: those old memories will tumble down, be mixed in. Even when the specifics are gone, the vestiges of history hold; lightly haunt.

The field is a wider space, where we can open our arms to catch spouts of wind. The crumbled barn has no doors but its spaces are like eyes: you can look through them, view the world as the barn views it.


This evening rain comes. Tepid drops on warm tarmac; they make a low mist, they sparkle in headlights.


Imagine those curtains in the opened house, the rain blowing over fabric roses.





Comments

Geo. said…
Poor peeled apart house, and yet I see steep stairs painted cheerful blue. It's as though someone I knew once lived in there. I hope the operation is a success. Great picture.
25 July 2013 at 01:38
Lisa Southard said…
They have footings in now for the extension: I hope the operation is a success too. Lovely to see such a jolly little place thrive.
28 July 2013 at 10:30
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