Edit: I posted this poem a few days ago and hadn’t noticed that the entire piece got deleted before submission.
My apologies for not noticing. I haven’t been online since.
This poem was called “Is This a Game”. Which made sense prior to editing two parts out. I was struggling to make the removed portions merge effectively, so rather than fight with words, I cut them. I’ve changed the title.
This poem was inspired by a family experience. My Mother used to say that there were children playing around the house, but they were never there. After a short time, everyone in the family saw the children. Even a few people who did not live in the house saw them.
“Who are the kids running around” was a question asked by a number of visitors. No one could ever catch up to the kids. The kids ran around the house, and no matter how fast we’d run to the front door, the children vanished.
The street was clear from left to right, there was no where that a pack of kids could hide. No one in the small village knew who those children were. It didn’t take long to conclude that the children playing games were not alive, as we perceive life to be.
About five years after my family moved away, I stopped in the village while on route to a camp site. I was appalled at the deterioration of the once beautiful home. I had no idea how dependent a building is on Human care. Living human care lol.
And so… this poem:
Photo manipulation by Ana Clark
The house is dead.
Once filled with drum beats
of many feet
Sounding, pounding on floorboards,
ascending stairs
Mending wears
Where memories soared
In walls that stored
the music of a family
Like a Bach score
But, no more.
For the house is dead.
Weak Floorboards have broken
No longer strong enough to support
fragile bodies
The ones once embodied.
New feet run through the dead house now
Silent feet
Invisible feet
For when the living moved away,
the dead took ownership their house
And made a home,
where the unseen children play.
The house is dead.
The dead are housed.
Writing content copyright © Ana Clark
Photo designed by and copyright © 2021 Ana Clark
Photo credits, used for editing:
