Kit Kelen #171 - possum stays

171

possum stays

(plan for a children's picture book)

somewhere beyond the dusk

possum is sulking

since we knocked the white ants down

thought to throw in a window to let in the light

possum was the winter breath

then we thought better of it

place was past repair

that's why we decided to take it all down

as if the house had grown there

and in a sense it had

what tending there was

by hammer in hand

and rang from ridge to river

half a century

and now almost another quarter

the valley is closing to forest again

have the cows come home?

life was delicious

ant at a time

lounging by their track

where's possum?

we saw she had possumette in pouch

(I guess that's what they're called)

board by board

and tin for scrap

whole house is taken down

steam rises from where possum stays
I sink back into my shoes, admiring

steam is a sort of rising

battens and rafters

down to the joists

last thing is this creature of thin air

the dark through which shine

possum's eyes

and little possum's too