After a series of indiscretions a man stumbled
homeward, thinking, now that I am going down
from my misbehaviour I am to be forgiven, because
how I acted was not my true self, which I am now
returning to. And I am not to be blamed for the
past, because I’m to be seen as one redeemed in the
present…
But when he got to the threshold of his house,
his house said, go away, I am not at home.
Not at home? A house is always at home: where
else can it be? said the man.
I am not home to you, said his house.
And so the man stumbled away into another series
Of indiscretions …
RUSSEL EDSON
1935 – 2014
The poem was on the back page of POETRY MAGAZINE July/August 2014 that I bought at Dominion News on Portage Avenue today. The image is from a startling, evocative, and stunning “housework(s)” series by Pam Hall that I saw in St. John’s Newfoundland, at the Rooms, when I was there visiting my son and daughter-in-law, and attending the TWUC annual conference. The Rooms also featured Rockwell Kent, whose work inspired The Underpainter by Jane Urqhardt and The Big Why by Michael Winter. Family, art & literature always a winning combination. Both books highly recommended, as is the art work by Pam Hall and Kent. Wiki or Google them.