Angela Howarth
Living above The Old Curiosity Shop
In the day time it seems safe,
only a window with my reflection
behind which the stuffed bear stares
and the angle mobile hardly breathes,
always the closed sign scribbled in red
“Ring Bell for attention.”
There is no bell. Nothing stirs inside
Until that odd rumbling at night
rises through the floorboards, slides doors
open to stacks of dusty shelves.
There is the sepia face of aunt Marie,
the red egg-timer, grease-stained and counting,
the dinner dance menu, the tortoiseshell box,
the cluster ring my mother pawned,
grandfather’s mason’s sash and the crystal bowl.
Tonight I will wind myself down
the stairs with a long strong thread
and a sharp needle to pierce holes
in everything that moves. I will
arrange them all like beads, the blue
next to the yellow, next to the green,
ordered and steady as rainbows.
In the center I will place the porcelain
Pegasus, white winged, shivering
with feathers ready to fly.
Page(s) 28
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