It's Still Life

Why My Favourite Sound is a Lawnmower

As I recall it was the summer
that dog bit me on the thigh —
a black dog named Ought Not.
The doc stitched me up

with beige twisty string,
like the thread that Mum used
for sewing on my coat buttons.
And all during that summer

I sat outside on a blanket
in the sunshine, counting
blades of grass, pretending
my fingers were galloping

horses running through roots
and long scrapes of earth.
Fridays, Mum mowed the grass
in four directions, dandelion

heads flying and seed heads
catching the morning light.
And that hole in my thigh
stared up at the tall sky,

swallowing gulps of sunshine.
And night rolled from maroon
to silky black hills. Skies
cracked lightning. Lashed wind.

I’d go back there in a heartbeat.
I was happy there in the sunshine.

Miz Quickly’s offered us The Actors Studio Ten Questions for Limbo Week
and here are my answers.

1. Morning.
2. Gripe
3. A new pen
4. Loud people
5. A lawnmower, and everything associated with it. The clean scent of summer, slow hot wasted days. Green. Everything deep in green, and if green were food, I’d be morbidly obese from it.
6. Motorcycles
7. Shit
8. Chef
9. Social worker
10. Relax. You’re nowhere near as bad as you think you are.

©️ Misky 2016