Rod Smith

 

from THE GOOD HOUSE

The good houses the parts, calls to
them, & wakens--

............in being, the house we will, its precepts
............lumber the stilling male--
............opulence isn't allowed, so to
............form is to erase what's not
............gradual & new--a specific
............love to focus the elements

............when we lock the door
............things float around awhile,
............climax, & rest

............in the new sense

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The good part of the house
is where something leaves
alone the light that it lattice
the red, souring, hoarse
needs made by no
other--safety depends in
them--
............so knowing strength
............so knowing weakness

this is where we will, & home

»»»

 

The good house feels bad about
the territory
.........................-- the house seems
to be a verb though it dislikes
the term 'housing'--the house
seems to be a bad dog & a
live wire--the house is bored
until people come over--the house
is anxious to please guests--
it is stupid & so thinks cordon
means love--it is wise & so
chooses--

............the honesty of the house helps
............the people to know--they can
............relax & recall other houses
............they have known, they become
............simple & listen to each other
............& to some birds, the birds right now

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The good house wasn't built into
the house but earned, once a beggar
lived there, & once a small one--

the police came & went

there were parties

»»»

 

The good was an upkeep

It was a perilous upkeep

There was kindling

»»»

 

This house was that house
to many--& to many there was no
house there because they hadn't
noticed--there was one who
noticed & was wanted, was loved

this gave the house hope
this gave the house no hope
this gave the house hope

it alternated. sometimes house, sometimes home

»»»

 

& sometimes the kitty kicks the bicycle on the porch

»»»

 

there's a barrel in the basement
that belongs to a country singer
named Nel--

there's an old wonderbread wrapper
behind the kitchen cabinet nobody
knows the story on--

there's a stack of bad news in
a box by the back door--

there's a wreath in a box behind the thing
& a bauble on the windowbox above some stuff--

»»»

 

tears never house us, maybe they
cleanse, maybe they don't, the word
intend doesn't seem to fit

sentiment

»»»

 

the good house is given advice:

In times of danger ceremonious forms are dropped. What
matters most is sincerity.

»»»

 

There are 8 houses in the heart,
there should be 9.

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the good house--it is heavy,
the good house--it exercises
hope in the inhuman, is transformed
by it--
............becomes blatant in its strength
............& is destroyed, the good
............house must be rebuilt
............carefully. The good house
............is in conflict.

»»»

 

if the house were up for rent
things would be different

»»»

 

The natural laws, & the longing
of the house--its hero variants
stalk the vestibules
like cormorants, seeking
new skills & other pests, pepper
to put on the belonging, a stereoscope
of the casual surfaces, pecked
through, the learning underneath.

»»»

 

It is a fair question how one
goes about cleaning such a house--

»»»

 

only so much danger
will fit in the house, only so much
style--when raining
or when
unimpaired, the house looks
out & out, lunging--apparent
listless tilling, in Pembroke,
in the nascent stopover, the
breathing house, those who
mend the fence, the list
of attributes, the pile of bills
for those attributes, the
basement of regard, a place
to single out & carry on--
housed one
amidst else, sometimes tired,
not undone, the soft tasks
of inner truth,
.........................the relative weights
of relatives & relativity, the
absolute, its circular motion,
& the making, & the making.

»»»

 

Housenight, the way a house
happily unfolds, because it
isn't buried, because
the disencumbered, pre
or entailing, hothouse
never severs but cups, houselike,
the dreamstate,
the housed part

the closed inside then

a kind of waiting always

 

 

Rod Smith is the author of In Memory of My Theories (O Books), The Boy Poems (BDB), Protective Immediacy (Roof), New Mannerist Tricycle with Lisa Jarnot and Bill Luoma (Beautiful Swimmer), and Music or Honesty (forthcoming from Roof). The Good House, a long poem, was recently published by Spectacular Books. Poèmes de laraignée was just published in France by Bureau sur l'Atlantique. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Anthology of New American Poets, The Baffler, The Gertrude Stein Awards, New American Writing, Open City, Shenandoah, and The Washington Review. He edits Aerial magazine, publishes Edge Books, and manages Bridge Street Books in Washington, DC.

Published in Volume 4, Number 2, Spring 2003.

 

To read more by this author:
Dan Gutstein on Rod Smith: The Profiles Issue