David Penn
The yellow cloud (over Gravesend, Kent)
The yellow cloud is thrashing the washing line,
its wilful child.
The woman takes a harvest of the clothes
that have dried like husks
and lays them one on another
in their yellow plastic cask.
The cloud, deciding on a storm,
is reconnoitring.
Its massive piled-up mind has made a map:
the ships along the river like boys on a hunt
for a lost ball,
ferry piers grabbing from the banks
for sky in the water,
loyal capes of grey roofs,
witch-cake schools;
the mud of gardens, planed by children’s shoes
as smooth as metal sheet.
One child is ten, one five, one three.
The years come down like game cards
taking their chances on a green table.
Soon the lines of the garden, the alleyway, their rooms
won’t hold them.
Pegs in her mouth like swords
or words
she should have left unspoken.
its wilful child.
The woman takes a harvest of the clothes
that have dried like husks
and lays them one on another
in their yellow plastic cask.
The cloud, deciding on a storm,
is reconnoitring.
Its massive piled-up mind has made a map:
the ships along the river like boys on a hunt
for a lost ball,
ferry piers grabbing from the banks
for sky in the water,
loyal capes of grey roofs,
witch-cake schools;
the mud of gardens, planed by children’s shoes
as smooth as metal sheet.
One child is ten, one five, one three.
The years come down like game cards
taking their chances on a green table.
Soon the lines of the garden, the alleyway, their rooms
won’t hold them.
Pegs in her mouth like swords
or words
she should have left unspoken.
David Penn lives in London.
Page(s) 24
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