The house is in disrepair.
There are termites in the attic
which explains water in the basement.
Let us decorate with pictures of sound houses,
pasting blueprints and architectural renderings
over cracked plaster.
The nails pound in easily.
Think of wood as damp sponges.
The screens are so jaggedly torn,
air is reluctant to enter the house.
The result: scant oxygen in the living room,
only traces of nitrogen in the kitchen.
Hydrogen scarce is in the bath except as H2O.
The broken porch leans toward the morning sun.
The hinges on the front door are frozen half open
resulting in the front door remaining half closed.
The way in is identical to the way out.
The staircase up serves as the staircase down .
To achieve the heights one begins below.
A fierce wind blows down through the chimney.
“Nothing can be done,” the repairman announced,
brushing the soot from his immaculate coat.
“To prevent the wind from coming down,
you would block the smoke from going out.”
The teenage Jesus practiced tikkun olam
in a house like this.
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‘tikkun olam’ Hebrew for repairing the world.
The work of making the world a better place.