Dolls House English Poems Poem by Sheena Blackhall

The Doll's House
It took him months of work,
Squeezed into his little time
Between end of work and sleep

The tools were arranged in the shed,
Methodically set out
(He always hated mess)
A jigsaw, rasp, paint brushes, screwdriver
A glue gun, chisel, mallet, knife, box cutter
A drill and drill bits, set square, wood clamps
A pencil, plywood, balsa wood and ruler
Primer paint and gloss paint, sandpaper
Brass hinges, electric wiring, screws
Small lights, varnish and a working bell
Some dowels for windows
Set square, plastic for panes as well

Last, meticulously, every room was papered,
Every floor was carpeted.
He even furnished it from top to bottom.

And there it was, red slates, cream walls, two chimneys
A two storey doll's house, set in its strip of garden, front and back
Corduroy green grass. Modern, electrified, a child's dream
A labour of love, from father to his daughter

I played with my paints, not noticing
The disappointment that he hid
I never got the joy of owning houses
And truly all my life, I never did


In the Dining Room: Breakfast
RIP. the inferior sausage lies uneaten
A memorial to a culinary disaster

There is unrest in the cornflakes dispenser
The crackle ceased to distribute
After it hit the plate

Mrs Jones's devilled kidneys
Congeal, under a slimy poached egg

Across the tables, strangers
Remark on the weather.

An elderly couple gossip
About their neighbours

The transaction of pay for services
Has not tipped the scales.
Several breakfasters have tutted and harrumphed
While their toast wilted and died

John McDermott fiddles with the plug
On his hearing aid. He has missed the morning
Menu introduction. He cannot reserve the kippers
A European waitress tries to decipher his Scots


The Breath
You asked us to meditate on the breath
We sat, cross legged on the floor

After some minutes fiddling
With mats and cushions
Clearing of throats and coughing

We stilled our breathing,
Counted the in and out breaths
Alternate nostril breathing

Breath in through ida, the left nostril
Cool as the moon, drawn in, yin energy
Breath out through pingala,
Right nostril, warm as the sun, the yang

Mechanically, I obeyed, but fidgeted
‘And how did you find that? ' he asked us all.
He had learned it from his guru in Bhutan

Straight to the point, I told him.
‘So boring! ' I complained. ‘Why couldn't
We meditate on an orange, or a lotus, or a tree? '

‘I see, ' he said, ‘so you think breathing's boring?
And what will happen when you stop to breath in air?
I rather think, my dear, you'd cease to be.'


It's Spring Again
It's spring again, winter has been demolished
Daffodils flourish flags in gold display
Blossom bursts from buds swollen and polished

Again, this season of life's resurrection
Brings all of April's greenery on display
The wheels of growing once more set in motion

In fields young lambs cavort and play.
And morning sun pours out a pristine light
And birds are nesting in each bush and tree

It's courting time. Birds wheel and pair in flight—
A sleepy hedgehog wakes, a spiky creeper
Minnows in rivers scatter, bait for trout

Swans glide in twos where water pools run deeper
Spring rainbows form in different arcs of hue,
And flimsy cobwebs stretch, the spider's larder

And everywhere is building, hatching, brewing
In woods and fields the world has turned to wooing


Teenage Time
I was never discreet as a teenager
I was the oddity that would hatch a revival
The girl who held a grudge
Against an institution that marginalised her culture

Bit I learned to control my mouth
My thighs loosened. Other forces
Eclipsed the world of thought

I strode out of school
Without a backward glance

Other parents said I was trouble
The Pontius Pilate of them all
Held me responsible
For undermining the pillars
Of respectability.

The pigeons that guano-ed the eaves
Of the Alma Mater,
Passed no judgement.
They'd seen such storms in teacups often before


Lately
Lately my awareness of time has grown
The difference from a dandelion clock
To a tolling bell

Life turns into a television soap
With a predictable denouement

Yet another addition increases
My list of medicines

The manufacturer of these ills
Is down to age and life choices

Oh for some magical transportation
To a perfect existence

The past lives in a refrigerator
I would like to step into an elevator
To bypass death
Keep me from a president's end
By an assassin's bullet

A nice, quiet sleep will do me
Like a cat, curled up
Taking its final purr


Loch Auchray
Coppiced oaklands, robin, chaffinch
Blue tit, great tit, wagtails flying
Dipper, warbler, roe deer, red deer
Ducks, swans, gliding

Nature raw in hoof and rump,
Plump, cow pancakes. Heifers hump


Forensic
The whole scene is disturbing
Cameras click automatically
Snapping the evidence

Flies buzz over the body of a girl
She is wearing cheap white trainers
Her clothes have been disturbed

She is lying in a dark garden hut
Her phone just out of reach

A dirty pink ribbon tight
Round her neck

When did she relinquish the struggle?
Was it a quarrel? A game gone wrong?

Who did it? Why?
Were there extenuating circumstances?

The whole scene is disturbing
Cameras click automatically
Snapping the evidence