Cromwell's House

An Ars Poetica

Cromwell’s House

 

At the age of twenty three he had completed

several journals full of poetry.

But Crowell’s wife needed a house

Writer became carpenter and

the product will become a tourist attraction.

A wooden sign will be allowed to swing in the wind.

“The house without Right-

Angles still stands today.”

They will enter with flashing cameras seeing

 the lines in the fake wood paneling peeling

exposing old stories.

They will be glad they came

looking through lenses

as the house unfolds before them.

brown carpet, floral upholstery, a stone

fireplace, a flour sifter that has lost its crank,

and the dirty words lying in the sink.

They’ll step between,

the simple rhyme entwined within the orange

carpet pattern. The makers designs threading them together.

They will tread through the hall, towards the basement,

find their feet on rotting pieces of wood

pulling them into intrigue.

The tour guide will say “Here, we see the beams are crumbling, the house will fall in approximately five seconds.”

More flashes from cameras and a small boy picks

at the dirt walls before every crooked line falls in.

The weight of age flattens every

antique, every camera. The lines of the shingled roof

left visible through the falling dust.

The poem finally laid flat.

But if you’d like to beat the rush and read the home for yourself

it’s the third house on the left

                off by three degrees

just say Cromwell sent you.

Reviews

[deeps]

A wooden sign will be allowed to swing in the wind.
“The house without Right-
Angles still stands today.”

Love the descriptiveness of thsi write.
This is amazing!