House: Spare Room

Spare Room

Hurdy-Gurdy in need of repair and memories

We have a spare room.

A room without belonging 

without purpose.

It was different at first.

When we moved here
it was a bedroom.

My bedroom.

North-facing small.

Uncomfortable with too much space
- Im a city girl after all -
I left the big room empty.

Luggage, clothes...

I grew into it.

The room, the house.

The big bedroom
with view
is now boudoir

There is carpet, curtains, space.

And the small room
is now filled with
leftovers from periods gone by
things kept, saved.

Luggage, clothes,
CD's, books, notes, bedding.

It needs a purpose,
something to do
that spare room.

That spare room of mine.

I'm a city girl after all

Family: Kittens! ...Mi-mi-ao Mammy!

Look there are kittens in the box!

...four ball of fluff have to go hunting...

I've been trying to get a good shot of them. It doesn't work. The corner that seemed just perfect - out of reach of Guide Dog Yeltsin, lodged between the piano and the harps - is too dark and just a little tight. So I'm left with nothing else to do but wait until they're big enough to climb out into the light.

For now it is screeches and screams when mammy moves. Tiny wails of despair as four balls of fluff have to go hunting for tit. Sometimes it isn't the mum moving but their brother-of-a-different-generation trying to squeeze in on the warmth. She's his mammy too. And if he could, he definitely would, even though he's too big a boy now which she lets him know all the time.

Three are just like their mammy and one is darker just like the different-generation-brother.

Truly, I never thought I'd enjoy seeing all that new life so much. It never was my thing. Yet here I am, oohing and aahing over the Wild Cat from Blarney Street being such an amazing parent. Patient, protective... ...she's different to how she normally is. She's given in to being a mum. Not because she chose but because nature demands it of her.

She's given in to being a mum

She turns onto her back so the little ones can reach better. She looks at me looking at her. I assure her it's ok. Much more so than it ever was for her mammy. Would she choose all of this if she could?

She squints at me and I tell her about where she's from, the spring she was born under the oil-burner and how she moved here with her brother, so she could have a better life. Because it's important to know where you're from.

She licks a head and a belly, puts a paw over one and her tail over the other. For now, their only response is to drink, wail, sleep and crawl towards the warmth.

I'm looking forward to blue-eyed and climb-out-of-the-box kittens soon.

There's purring going on.

Family: Paddy's Day

The spuds are in
the robin taunts me
all morning.
In, out, in, out
here, there, gone.

We go for green 99's

all here to see, smile, celebrate

and wait for the parade.
I'm a Rover
Oh Danny Boy
The Tidy Towns

There's shamrock
stout and bodies.
Green, orange, white and gold
all here to see, smile, celebrate
the leaving of the snakes.

Mountain dew tea
drives out the day
like Patrick himself the snakes.
Another one gone forgot

the robin is here to stay.








Anja Bakker

Body: Spring has sprung and I see and feel my body!

    

I squint into it walking home.

There is light again.

I squint into it walking home.

Blue skies, birdsong,

In my mind's eye I stretch, bend

make possible

do, create 

enjoy, hold strong, am able.

But in this light I feel all.

I am strong, flexible, able

and there is light again

The neck betrays the crow in me

the woman waiting within

my grandmother's

elongated cheeks.

My shape betraying waning fertility

even if I like the comfort of covering my limbs

it has to be said is obvious.

There is light again.

I see the thinness of my skin

through the dust on the looking glass.

In my minds eye I pass through

deserts and mountainous lands

to fulfill dreams and potential.

through the dust on the looking glass

In my mind's eye...

potential and now, to do, to engage, to see, to not hide.

To deal with, to be kind yet persistent

strong without force.

To overcome every obstacle when possible

All in time.


And for now:

Do, did, done... ...

My neck betrays the crow in me

I am strong, flexible, able

and there is light again

a stretch

a little every day.

Anja Bakker