I found where my house fits under the sky tonight.
Just under the shoulder of Taurus,
A little east of Cassiopeia’s lap,
A little west of the charioteer.
karoline strickland
I found where my house fits under the sky tonight.
Just under the shoulder of Taurus,
A little east of Cassiopeia’s lap,
A little west of the charioteer.
“I
JUST
WANT
TIME
TO
CLEAN
THE
TOILETS!
Is that too much to ask?”
“Yes,”
He said.
“It is.
Can you make peace with that?”
“Mama” – she said to me,
tilted her spoon like a silver wand –
“A butterfly came to our house.”

A house is not a neutral box,
Nor rooms a mere four walls.
It hears you and it sees you,
And it remembers things,
And twenty years from now – or eighty –
Your echo still
For good or ill
Will be there.
Bare feet on carpet,
slow steps and loosened hips, belly round with unborn child –
Like some household high priestess I unwrap the morning light,
unfold it out of curtains, shake it loose, and wait.