cows of a the causeway 2

she comes in from the rain
says hey what’s for dinner
says hey..........I'm thinking
of having sex with him next door
at weekends just a sort of arrangement
I haven't told him yet
thought I'd slip it past you first
..................sure he says

he likes you &
his wife would watch
if there was nothing on TV
while we're at it I should tell you

I have a similar deal
....................with your Dad
sometimes your Mother watches
not always sometimes she turns
away............... to gaze at the wall
that writhes with damp and cold
tides of old wallpaper windows
of seaglass ghosts and head-high nettles
..............................the drowning of children

sudden outside voices now stilled O
I dream about such walls as that
..................don't you?
yeah oh yeah she says she slides closer
he feels her moving around inside
but can think of nothing to say
................................—to sum it up neatly:
outside in the garden a gale
whips the washing line
into wild skipping rope cycles
that rip at the long unmown grass
ghost children spring up
beating time.............. into stars

everything is unkempt and ugly
for a few seconds
he bursts over himself
laughs a little awkwardly
shrugs it off
smooths himself
back into place

his face a blue skull
he steps he dances the slow starfish
he veers

aloud to her incoming

rock-and-roll-radio
.