me in B major – 60 Jubilee East, the attic
I’m the one on the right
____________
my sister by the ankles had actually
been a door originally, from which
they would’ve swept out hay, I’d
think, where chickens might’ve
roosted, but my dad had built a
couple of bedrooms for us there,
my sister and I, one at either end
of what would’ve been that attic
much of this is conjecture, I don’t
remember living in the chicken
coop, though I remember living
in the garage, there’d been an
outhouse behind it, and men
would come over to clean it out
every so often
there was also a milkman, who led
a horse and milk wagon, and for
whom we’d clean out and return
the bottles
also in summer, a man with a pony
for kids took pictures, I still have
ours imprinted on a cup
between our bedrooms, my dad had
built a closet, where we could both
hang all our clothes, and beside it,
on either side, a row of shelves we
could individually use adjoining our
separate bedrooms, hers was pink,
mine was blue, baby blue, this was
probably already more than most
other kids had, though I would’ve
been too young to be aware of it
behind the closet, there was a door
into a confined area under the roof,
with beams and an itchy brush that
served as insulation, we were
curious but ever too afraid to go in
there, where confinement lurked,
nor had I wanted to get into the dryer
down in the basement for the same
reason, I might, I told myself, lock
myself in
a short staircase towards the back of
the house led onto a landing, where
a window looked out onto our back
yard, if I remember well, and beyond
that to the brush that preceded the
forest, and a rocky elevation
a longer staircase in the other direction
took us downstairs, into the main living
areas
my sister and I were only a year apart,
I was older, protective, she was younger,
trusting, this has never changed
Richard
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