The House of Bousillage

It is a simple five-room house.

Climb the steps and walk on the porch.

Enter the living room with its wood stove.

Go left to the bedroom.

Come back to the living room

Go toward the back of the house.

Go through the dining room, and

On the left see the door to the second bedroom.

Now enter the kitchen.

Now go back to the porch
To look at the wall of the house:

It is made of a mixture of clay, moss, and bagasse.

Stout cypress beams make a large dark X

Against the wall’s earthen color.

Going back to the house today

Gives rise to a deep ache of longing

For the life there lived. 

--March 7, 2013