“This Is A Happy House”
Alice Ladrick
1.
Something gorgeous in a
tinted eyebrow. A shoulder
slathered in self tanner. Teeth
whitened with a kit bought
online.
All little ways of hiding the fact
that the house that you were born in
is crumbling at the corners.
I stole that line from a song
it’s a good one and we all do
our professions make our
protestations
Primal human activities
require
art.
2.
The house that you were
born in is crumbling at
the corners.
Falling apart as they say
run down
overrun
How the river runs
is no concern
of mine.
3.
Writing just something
just something small
Just something little with a
feeling for the breaks
Stop saying “just” they
told me to stop qualifying
But how will I know.
4.
Heartbreak poems your poem
is crumbling at the corners
Your house is a nuisance and you
you are the most of all.
5.
When it comes knocking you
feel it come not with claws
but with the softest paws
The gentle weight of a large
cat easing its way onto your chest
It takes up the space and leaves
only after awhile do you feel
the hurt of it
Sometimes the softest
paw is a claw.
6.
Your body crumbling each twinge
in your back a knife of age
ouch that was dramatic
how do we listen to dashboard as
unhinged 40 year old men wearing
shorts on a 50 degree day
nobody warm enough everybody
enjoying the vibe change but still
crumbling constantly an emotional
state is fucked it’s a vote away
from the writing on the wall
my house a house of age
a miracle of savior and luck
a pluck of injectables holding
together a blend of rocks and
bird feathers
7.
Curating a collection of body
parts but only the nice ones
this isn’t horror poetry I’m not
foreign and shocking just
average 30-something slowly
falling apart eating frozen pizza
on the couch every Friday night
always fascinated by the idea
entropy—that everything tends
toward falling and where’s
the proof that we’re not eroding
slowly stop making the necessaries
a birthday cake of a skull in the shape
of a heart writ “memento mori”