April Poetry: Terminal House

In recognition of Poetry Month, and to celebrate our treasure trove of Orcas Island poets, Orcas Issues is pleased and honored to offer daily poetry during April.

TERMINAL HOUSE
by Audra Query Lawlor

we build something to die
local fir, perfectly milled, hand-polished metal
frames, beams
a foundation
labored on, by, for us
to just die

“we will go there to die”
she said, laughing
as if each house before was not monument enough
testament to lives well spent, bled, wept upon, fallen
and risen again, no
but spent

on the more beautiful later
ever after again
entombed in shards of glass
and a Wolf convection double oven
in sweat, in years of work, will, power
by someone else

do you believe that wonderment arrives
and stays, in a house?
it stands on stilts in the ocean
undeterred by permits, squalls, or taxes
on a mountainside, your house lies in repose
waiting