four walls of high red brick
this is a house
hides stretched taut over posts
this is a house
earth and straw plied between timbers
this is a house
dirt floors are houses
cardboard boxes are houses
holes clawed into hot sand
clawed into hot snow, are houses
palaces of pink marble
are houses too
and tunnels where steam lives
outlives rats and roaches
tunnels that go down down
tunnels that breathe like dragons
who would spill to dust
if ever they saw the sun
are houses that swallow men whole
Copyright © 2019 by Ken Farrell.