Nooks

sit disciple to in-venturing beams of depth-toeing light bend breathless ear to flits of gravelly outdoor sounds or the traffic of the air
tune to the house’s pitch
where plaster ends and brick peeks through shadow
or hemlock studs undress their strength
where fingertips can trace the eroded paths of the workman’s adze
the recesses where old fancies nestle in amber
here nodules of avoided time memories left in the corners by growing cortexes here a child could wait all morning till the hide-and-seekers gave up or evening eavesdrop with fragmented comprehension on adult confidences
who is so barricaded as not to love nooks
discreet witnesses to mischanced architecture
a breach in the strokes of a moldering blueprint
the refuge of the too low side table, the too flared vase
of a superfluous panel from a disregrarded antique
 
where expelled truths go to sulk
household gnomes busk for recognition
generational secrets cross the stage
discarded personalities beckon

while your center settles there
spirits whisper ceaselessly to your core

 

This poem was published as one of six poems in issue #2 of Ranger magazine.

Andy Oram
May 3, 2020

More poems