The House Analysis

They are building a house

half a block down

and I sit up here

with the shades down

listening to the sounds,

the hammers pounding in nails,

thack thack thack thack,

and then I hear birds,

and thack thack thack,

and I go to bed,

I pull the covers to my throat;

they have been building this house

for a month, and soon it will have

its people...sleeping, eating,

loving, moving around,

but somehow

now

it is not right,

there seems a madness,

men walk on top with nails

in their mouths

and I read about Castro and Cuba,

and at night I walk by

and the ribs of the house show

and inside I can see cats walking

the way cats walk,

and then a boy rides by on a bicycle

and still the house is not done

and in the morning the men

will be back

walking around on the house

with their hammers,

and it seems people should not build houses

anymore,

it seems people should not get married

anymore,

it seems people should stop working

and sit in small rooms

on 2nd floors

under electric lights without shades;

it seems there is a lot to forget

and a lot not to do,

and in drugstores, markets, bars,

the people are tired, they do not want

to move, and I stand there at night

and look through this house and the

house does not want to be built;

through its sides I can see the purple hills

and the first lights of evening,

and it is cold

and I button my coat

and I stand there looking through the house

and the cats stop and look at me

until I am embarrased

and move North up the sidewalk

where I will buy

cigarettes and beer

and return to my room.

from "All's Normal Here" - 1985