Henry Shukman
Household
The tons of brick and stone, the yards of piping,
the sinks and china basins, three toilets, the tiles,
and the tons of wood in floors, chairs, tables,
the yards of flex and cable that wrap the house
like a net, the heavy glassed front door, the gate
onto the street, the rippled sheets of window,
the yew tree by the back, the pictures, books, piano:
what would it all weigh? One kiss, one breathed
declaration, and there it is: the mass of love.
the sinks and china basins, three toilets, the tiles,
and the tons of wood in floors, chairs, tables,
the yards of flex and cable that wrap the house
like a net, the heavy glassed front door, the gate
onto the street, the rippled sheets of window,
the yew tree by the back, the pictures, books, piano:
what would it all weigh? One kiss, one breathed
declaration, and there it is: the mass of love.
Henry Shukman’s collection In Dr No’s Garden was a Book of the Year in The Times and The Guardian, and won the Aldeburgh Poetry Prize in 2003. He has worked as a travelwriter and a trombonist, and recently won the Author’s Club First Novel Award with Sandstorm (Cape, 2005).
Page(s) 37
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