The House That Stands

     I

the house that stands
remains
the same

change of minor
importance continues
     as will be done
     for more generations
     to pass the stone
     faces and walls
     coloured red with light
rising above the earth
the residence
memorial to

Trueman


     VII

shaft wars
don't involve weapons
but other booby trapping
retaliations
exploding
     cans of shaving cream
spraying inhabitants
     or belongings
     in darkened rooms

innocents lost
in swirling clouds
of baby powder
     propelled
under phone booth doors
     wedged shut
suffocating and
choking call to home

when you visit the East
be wary of words
     trickery
preceded by rhetoric

balanced with buckets
of scorn from the natives
     after the deluge
     the innocent question

ever been to sea, Billy?


     IX

I’ve seen many girls
     who have
entered Trueman
and left worried
as mothers do
     at the visitation
     at the turn
and the tail of the year

some girls have lived
ensconced in rooms
     and acted
     served
as example
to stay a bachelor
in his passage
     from one room
     to the next
with her cries


     XVI

the boys age
unable to catch up
to the aging
Trueman

the common continual
     national sport
     in the hallways
invading corridors
with tape-wound sticks
bound to defend
laminated cores
from chipping

black marks
     on the walls
     on the floor
a Siskind image
repeated year after year
to grumbles and sighs
of custodians
fighting in the corners
until institutionalized
paint can no longer
withstand the punishment
     repeated
of scuffing, scoring, scrubbing

periodically
this house
     acquires
     or reveals
another layer of character
over time


     XXII

the house that stands
remains
the same

change of minor
importance continues
     as will be done
     for more generations
     that pass the stone
     faces and walls
     coloured red with light
rising above the earth
the residence
memorial to

Trueman