home is where
there’s a crack in the wall
just above the staircase
that returns no matter
how many times i
patch it up
fill
sand
repaint
a few months later
there it is
again
.
before
i moved here
some 26 years ago
this house was moved from
two roads over
rooms
uprooted
and balanced
on a flat bed truck
then hauled across fields of corn
and set down here
in this new spot
to grow
a new history
and
settle into
this land this view
this corner
but that crack
that scar
is always there
just to remind me
of the many
definitions
of
impermanence
.
.
.
Linking up with the fabulous dVerse poets for Open Link Night, join us!
June 19th, 2012 at 8:25 am
thank you for reminding me!
June 19th, 2012 at 8:38 am
A house with such history needs a scar or two to tell its tales. Impermanence and patience; a good house will always teach those lessons. Do you know when the house was first built?
June 19th, 2012 at 8:46 am
This is good, i like the story of the house and how you redefine what most think of as a “permanent” thing.
June 19th, 2012 at 8:53 am
Sometimes we need reminding … beautiful!
June 19th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Oh, those settling cracks have been the bane of my existence in more than one home…I love how you’ve chosen to see it as a reflection of the history, being uprooted, resettled…your work always leaves me pondering long after the reading is done…this piece is no exception
June 19th, 2012 at 9:46 am
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June 19th, 2012 at 10:54 am
wonderful writing. thanks
June 19th, 2012 at 10:58 am
nice closure on this one…i think marks like that def add texture to a home…like the scars each of us bear, they have stories to tell…
June 19th, 2012 at 11:29 am
A great write,and great closure.
June 19th, 2012 at 11:43 am
Lovely ‘reframing’ and I so enjoy the photo too, reminded me of Uta Barth, whose work I adore. http://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/artist.php?art_name=Uta%20Barth
June 19th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
for some moves you pay with scars but then… with new views as well.. great metaphor…life seems to be the personified impermanence..and somehow this is one of the things i like it most for..
June 19th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Very poignant post for me right now as we face the possibility of moving home.
June 19th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Love that the scars remain..in spite of the new beginnings. Kind of like badges of honor???
It’s been too long since I’ve been here. Beautiful – as always!!!
June 19th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
no matter how hard we try, there are always scars to all of life.
in fondest. t.
June 19th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Ahh, I like the ending!
June 19th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
house replanted. a scar or two is expected and a treasure. a laugh line.
June 19th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Ah, it’s flawed but it lasts…a lot to be said for that …lovely writing 🙂
June 19th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
The house is still creating its ‘new history’ with you wielding the palette. It’s remarkable how many things are implicit in so few lines–time passing, impermanence, the insatiable urge for people to take pains and create a kind of perfection, often to no avail. Very fine job.
June 19th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
awesome poem – as a child I lived in a relocated house… but it’s the cracks, the scars that fail to heal and the idea that they resurface to remind us that nothing is by definition permanent
I love the shape of this poem too
June 19th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Scars, like wrinkles, cracks, stretchmarks and other ‘flaws’ all serve to prove we have existed. Nothing makes it through unscathed… and I am sure that is how its meant to be. Great post.
June 19th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Great personification–or maybe plant-ification?–of the house as something alive, and of the subtle ways life has of nudging us to think.
June 19th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
It is a very big reminder too. A crack that keeps appearing, I hope you had it looked at and that the foundations aren’t moving?
No, nothing is permanent at all is it.
Lovely write from you again. 🙂
June 19th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Yeah they do always seem to come back, great way to look at them.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:10 pm
A poetic way to look at the settling problem. You might want to call the people who moved the house though. 🙂
Beautiful write!
June 19th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
So cool…love that crack! It’s a scar you can’t hide. Nicely done with the form and the wonderful words!
June 19th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Where would home be without our scars to let us know we have got there… Lovely write again 🙂
June 19th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Ooh… love the crack as a scar. This is great (as always).
http://lkkolp.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/my-dogs-and-thunderstorms/
June 19th, 2012 at 6:11 pm
And so it is ~ Love that last line ~
June 19th, 2012 at 7:51 pm
Oooh, so good. This was the best kind of lesson- completely unexpected. Wonderful, in every sense of the word.
June 19th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Absolutely love this piece and the truth it implies. It reminded me of the jagged but beautiful scar in my side that says: ‘England.’
June 19th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Yup. Not prepared to say why (in comment) but I really REALLY needed to read this one tonight!
Nothing ever the same
Truism: Everything changes!
Thank you.
PEACE!
June 19th, 2012 at 9:08 pm
I wrote once about a secretary desk that my Grandma painted every year, how the scars and mars showed hints of the years before. I love the crack in the wall. It says the same as Grandma’s secretary. Beautiful work.
June 19th, 2012 at 11:29 pm
I know a lady, lives in Naples, quite well-to-do. Every time she buys a piece of furniture, or anything new, she puts a scratch on it–so from that moment she never has to worry about “THAT FIRST MARK!” (True)
June 20th, 2012 at 8:49 am
[…] fascinated by the story behind this beautiful poem by Kelly Letky and I’m curious about your own definitions of impermanence…. what are your […]
June 20th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Beautiful. Reminds me of a “J” shaped imperfection (I think it was a patch job) at the top of my parents staircase.
June 20th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Wonderful. It always seems so strange to me when they do this to houses. Lovely poem. k.
June 20th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
I love that you quit fighting the crack in the wall and let it stand as a metaphor for all that movement, gravity, and time does to things. Very clever and excellent piece!
June 21st, 2012 at 3:15 am
Great picture, great poem, savoured thrice no problem!