Aileen Kelly
Any Room
Any room in any life may be the place taken over.
While you still huddle wondering is it too late
for words like beauty and love, the dog is shot,
the door you trusted cracks open at first boot
and camouflaged men swagger into possession.
The writer’s pen is driven through the writer’s flesh.
Any powerpoint converts to simple coercion.
The place you played as a child, where your children play
the trigger and giggle of fantasy: from any ceiling
ambiguous shadows hang, splinters rise
from walls, and stained floors mutter unlikely tales.
It was always too late for words like honour and truth
which are always blindfold words spat at hooded faces
or scratched on familiar walls by shattered fingers.
Under the hood is it stranger or neighbour or twin?
Anywhere quiet and safe may become the place.
Any room any time now.
While you still huddle wondering is it too late
for words like beauty and love, the dog is shot,
the door you trusted cracks open at first boot
and camouflaged men swagger into possession.
The writer’s pen is driven through the writer’s flesh.
Any powerpoint converts to simple coercion.
The place you played as a child, where your children play
the trigger and giggle of fantasy: from any ceiling
ambiguous shadows hang, splinters rise
from walls, and stained floors mutter unlikely tales.
It was always too late for words like honour and truth
which are always blindfold words spat at hooded faces
or scratched on familiar walls by shattered fingers.
Under the hood is it stranger or neighbour or twin?
Anywhere quiet and safe may become the place.
Any room any time now.
Page(s) 35
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