The Child Builds a Poetry House
‘I’m building a poetry house
each brick takes many hours
I may not ever move in
but if I do, I’ll have to be thin
I’d like it big enough for others
especially friends but not little brothers
the roof is crystal and lots of lapis
the sun likes to look at its face
and of course there’s sempervivum there
but under the eaves something sinister
martins have sealed in sparrow chicks
sparrows shouldn’t take such risks
the cellar’s another treacherous place
where fairy stories leave their trace
you must be careful where you tread
the floor is made of gingerbread
and sometimes balls of lightning whoosh
burst in fountains of blue fish’.
each brick takes many hours
I may not ever move in
but if I do, I’ll have to be thin
I’d like it big enough for others
especially friends but not little brothers
the roof is crystal and lots of lapis
the sun likes to look at its face
and of course there’s sempervivum there
but under the eaves something sinister
martins have sealed in sparrow chicks
sparrows shouldn’t take such risks
the cellar’s another treacherous place
where fairy stories leave their trace
you must be careful where you tread
the floor is made of gingerbread
and sometimes balls of lightning whoosh
burst in fountains of blue fish’.
Page(s) 11
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- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
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- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
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- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
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- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
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- North, The
- Oasis
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- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The