Living Room by Marie Ponsot

Living Room

by Marie Ponsot

The window’s old & paint-stuck in its frame.


If we force it open the glass may break.


Broken windows cut, and let in the cold

to sharpen house-warm air with outside cold


that aches to buckle every saving frame


& let the wind drive ice in through the break

till chair cupboard walls stormhit all goods break.


The family picture, wrecked, soaked in cold,


would slip wet & dangling out of its frame.

Framed, it’s a wind-break. It averts the worst cold.