Abandoned Farmhouse
By Ted Kooser
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.

A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.

Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm--a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.

I'm like a dog with a bone, I just can't leave this little place alone. Abandoned and going downhill rapidly, the briars are incredibly tenacious and wounding, the little porch now covered. Wooden window frames are rotting, guttering coming loose and tiles flying. Inside though it's untouched. But I can't get in! A sash window is slightly open but too high for elegant (or otherwise) entry - I had to teeter on an old gate and cling onto the sill to get this shot. Some old enamelware, a glass candle stick, a posh china cup and a colander. There are the remains of a long dead rabbit on the floor so something's got in.

A busy day. A bit of book work in the morning - one section was definitely rather rushed and a bit gungho and will have to be revisited, but we've nearly got a rough version together. Then a quick trip around to Ballydehob and Bantry card delivering. It's the last Arthouse tonight - a French movie Just a Sigh (Le Temps de l'Adventure) and it's meant to be humorous - a relief from the very heavy ones we've had recently. I will report back.