.
returning to my childhood home in thought
returning to mallard quacks tolling
and the hour toiled
by ever thirsty church bells
cold damp rock house with ammonites
and belemnites coiling in the walls
and a cooling ichthyosaur
futilely trying to swim in the silty soil
struggling to catch prey
beneath the foundation
its darkness is rummage
.
a flush lawn planted nilly and obscene
monkshood mint cotton grass and ling
warm mentions an evening fire
and the family room
i'm mooding through the memory
and it grooms apart organic
birthing not river not smoke
rat sized earwigs take to the air heat
over the boiling tar garage roof
and i return home back through time
child swinging on thick vines suspended
by the yew over the stream
the willows dapple and paddle
the fir trees return
fierce sproutings of involving shade
ridding the house
of the intruder new extension
riding time back
and the caravan my parents
would later park on concrete
is swallowed
the storms of a bad year return the old wall
at the property edge
and the cottage reforms an ancient pace
with its surroundings
.
it's no longer my families claimed place
re-seemed with ghoulish history
the workhouse returns
and files with hard poverty
the wall punches through
in what will be the kitchen
and the cottage runs through long
with the neighbours space
dormitory takes the whole upstairs length
and the legend of the garment thief
drops ghost and rumour to live again
and then all this too flees out of history
.
rushing back through time
and this all sinks into the levels
swamp life takes over
and the ammonites
moisten with anticipation
prehistory is sprout to begin
.
[02/04/25 is the date of early notes. Parish Rash was the title. leave this version for reference : mallard quacks and the hour tolled by church bells/cold damp house flush lawn planted obscene/warm memories an evening fire and family room/i'm mooding through the memory and it grooms apart organic/birthing not river not smoke/earwigs take to the air over the tar garage roof/and i return home back through time/the fir trees return fierce sprouting ridding the new extension/that my parents had now still to add/and the caravan my parents would later park on concrete/the storms of one year return the old wall at the property edge/lean it back up and refill in its mortar /and the cottage reforms an ancient peace with its surrounding/it's no longer my families claimed place/reseemed seam seem with ghoulish history]