Thursday, July 14, 2005

Thursday Verses: Home Repair Haiku

I wrote these.
Long the seat pinched,
Until it cracked completely.
Ah. New toilet seat.
The first syllable of the third line is an interesting turning point. As I've written it here, it's a kind of neutral exclamation, the understated surprise of sitting on something that lacks a familiar flaw. I thought about using "Ohhh" but thought that was a bit lurid. I could go with the even more understated "So," but I like it the way it is. In a similar vein,
Two years of scratching:
Attic ventholes need covers.
Now, silence above.
There is something melancholy about expelling a critter, particularly a long-time resident, from your home. Though there is also a great sense of shamefully delayed accomplishment at finally figuring out what it was and how the damned thing was getting in. Last, but not least,
To accomodate
the broken desk lamp, a hole
drilled in the new shelf
No, each line does not have to be a self-contained grammatical phrase. Elegant solutions sometimes violate our sense of order, but they are elegant nonetheless.

(the index of other lyrics and poetry I've posted is here)

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