Stillness

If you look closely at the stones, you'll see that a certain brown-and-gray one is different from the others. 

Ash

Strange house we must keep and fill.
House that eats and pleads and kills.
Home on legs. House on fire. House infested
With desire. Haunted house. Lonely house.
House of trick and suck and shrug.
Give-it-to-me house. I-need-you-baby house. 
House whose rooms are pooled with blood.
House with hands. House of guilt. House
That other houses built. House of lies
And pride and bone. House afraid to be alone.
House like an engine that churns and stalls.
House with skin and hair for walls.
House the seasons singe and douse.
House that believes it is not a house.


--Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the U.S.A., 2017.