(This attempt is somewhat new: I'm trying to finish a train of thought within a few days. I'm trying to move from the habit of not finishing a thought. I have many trains of thoughts that didn't reach their destinations. They were close but didn't come fully together to give life to the journey. They are just sitting, waiting.
Also, I'm experimenting with picture poems)
****
I turned the
clear handle on the kitchen side door painted white
To match this beautiful house, three floors
remodeled, 34 picture windows
Faced steep, cold steps with faded spilled
paint stars and pet hairballs
Step by step down into the guts, moist, tumultuous,
brimming musty
Where now? I wondered at the foot,
swallowed by the churning memories
Of lives lived, piled freely in
garage. A speed limit sign, lamps, shades, a safe
Bags, tables, stepping stool, baby
mattress, bike pump. A tarp underside,
Hiding more. Marcia, flower child of 90’s, the
wall peeling off its secret scribbles
Of lives being lived above, digesting
the imbibed in closed off basement garage
In this beautiful home, standing tall
with siblings on a warm wide street
Spotted a door at left, sunlight
streaming from once used pet plastic cutout
Hesitantly opened a creaky latch on that
wood-naked side door, it took me into
A stone path, a turn, 3 steps down- into a sky
bright yard in a canopy of trees
A patio, long
lawn chairs surrounded by small wilderness, home to 2 lively blue jays.
Came back up the same way a while later,
closed the white door and Oh that’s what
The bells on the handle are for, if an
intruder comes the wrong way up, we will know.
You fancied the bells and took them to swing
in the air for a while
This is an AirBnB house, we need to put
things back where they belong
We’ll
only take our memories, I’d like to remember this small stool by the window
Which you fancy, sometimes sit to watch
me cook with a pleasant expectant look
As if this spot, this house, this street,
soil, sun and all matter came about to poise
Now, to meet up in you. But you don’t hold on to baggage however
beautiful
****