Rent a flatbed with a winch.
With the right leverage
anything can be hoisted, driven off.
Or the man with a Bobcat comes in,
then the hauler with his enormous truck.
A leveler or a lawyer does the rest;
experts always are willing to help.
The structure was old, rotten in spots.
Hadn't it already begun to implode?
Believe you've just sped the process up.
Photographs, toys, the things that break
your heart—let's trust
they would have been removed,
perhaps are safe with the children
who soon will have children of their own.
It's over. It's time for loss to build
its tower in the yard where you
are merely a spectator now.
Admit you'd like to find something
discarded or damaged, even gone,
and lift it back into the world.
Click on the title to go to poetryfoundation.org's posting of Dismantling the House and listen to Mr. Dunn read this poem. Click on his name to learn more about Stephen Dunn.
Yep. I'm liking this one.
ReplyDeleteReminds one of heartless local authorities who 'destroyed' houses and properties on some flimsy excuses cooked up by lawyers. Excellent verse.
ReplyDeleteHank
Wow, life is so full of loss and this captures it so purely.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this selection. By far I feel the strongest point of this poem for me was the end.
ReplyDeleteAdmit you'd like to find something
discarded or damaged, even gone,
and lift it back into the world.
Isn't it amazing how memories become all taht we are at some point? Amzing and sad.
Odd it wont let me sign in here. Robert Lloyd
"Admit you'd like to find something
ReplyDeletediscarded or damaged, even gone,
and lift it back into the world."
stunning! I wish I had written it.. :)
Repair mode keeps us alive! Powerful, I enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteHis words, I wish I had wrote it! Thanks for sharing :D