real estate odes
1
what some need
(and what they can't do
for themselves)
is rip it out take it off strip it back
to bare and pristine lines
what it is then all exposed
is not just a place where time is spent
***
so this is your home?
a rare concept
something to hold
your heart says
***
it's on display an owner's taste
(and so many with none)
bad carpet a cluttered domain
the less than verdant lawn
takes a practised eye for
the place place place
(it's everything) they tell us
starting with the view
and the land?
it stays faithful if you do
if you love the land
a home comes next
***
inside the circa
the sturdiness of cedar and pine
(you hear it clear) how "your furniture
would look good there"
(even if there is presently
an other's place)
***
lotto fails and fails to convince
it's no good counting on luck
when luck is always what it is
no luck today but
not so hopeless
another chance
***
did i pray once?
(don't make me admit
the unbelieving side of my brain
will sneer and offer a cruel quip
a blatant snark)
in my boots i have
yes i've prayed for it
***
so settle settle for less
just doesn't cut
change is afloat
and what change is
is something
less complicated
walking away from
what should be
almost enough
change keeps things in flux
it's perspective and timing
(more than anything else)
if it would help
on my knees again
to have that
***
it's the nature of me to favour risk
toil with a purpose touching the ground
the seedlings look good in the garden
herbs and rising colours in rock beds
fragrant flower heads climbing everything
that's upright or curved or bent on a fence
romanticism not lost in this post modernist
prism (and you don't want that? really?)
***
feeling out weather
what weather conveys
once spent a whole day walking
in a cold climate town
shooting image on image of chimneys
the houses abut and these rising
in a clear blue paddock
brick and stone monuments
told me more than a quick check on bom
weather knows itself differently where i am
structures have tin slant rooftops
the blue has only sky rising and sun
1
what some need
(and what they can't do
for themselves)
is rip it out take it off strip it back
to bare and pristine lines
what it is then all exposed
is not just a place where time is spent
***
so this is your home?
a rare concept
something to hold
your heart says
***
it's on display an owner's taste
(and so many with none)
bad carpet a cluttered domain
the less than verdant lawn
takes a practised eye for
the place place place
(it's everything) they tell us
starting with the view
and the land?
it stays faithful if you do
if you love the land
a home comes next
***
inside the circa
the sturdiness of cedar and pine
(you hear it clear) how "your furniture
would look good there"
(even if there is presently
an other's place)
***
lotto fails and fails to convince
it's no good counting on luck
when luck is always what it is
no luck today but
not so hopeless
another chance
***
did i pray once?
(don't make me admit
the unbelieving side of my brain
will sneer and offer a cruel quip
a blatant snark)
in my boots i have
yes i've prayed for it
***
so settle settle for less
just doesn't cut
change is afloat
and what change is
is something
less complicated
walking away from
what should be
almost enough
change keeps things in flux
it's perspective and timing
(more than anything else)
if it would help
on my knees again
to have that
***
it's the nature of me to favour risk
toil with a purpose touching the ground
the seedlings look good in the garden
herbs and rising colours in rock beds
fragrant flower heads climbing everything
that's upright or curved or bent on a fence
romanticism not lost in this post modernist
prism (and you don't want that? really?)
***
feeling out weather
what weather conveys
once spent a whole day walking
in a cold climate town
shooting image on image of chimneys
the houses abut and these rising
in a clear blue paddock
brick and stone monuments
told me more than a quick check on bom
weather knows itself differently where i am
structures have tin slant rooftops
the blue has only sky rising and sun
posted by Louise at 10:21 AM
2 Comments:
This is one of those poems that is so perfectly immaculate in both its conception and execution that it leaves one speechless.
thank you paul. hope to post more of these as they are finished (or not finished). and might hope too that they will find the form or structure best suited to their needs...a detached or semi detached renovation on the thematic whim.
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