tilting spinning house
It takes only the slightest breeze to set us in motion.
we begin to twirl. I begin to fall in love.
We almost never stop drifting in circles.
I know it could become too much of a good thing.
Last night was our first night
sleep infused us both.
sleep that comes and goes with the sun’s light
I feel the tension dissipate.
Overnight we had rain storms, so this morning is blessedly cool.
The sun returned with a cheerful vengeance.
It feels grand and processional
pleasant, sheltering, even nurturing. But very controlling.
The latter half of our day was spent preparing to disembark.
but we’re still not ready, of course,
so we are frantic to complete all the unfinished bits.
always a new adjustment needed
We talked for some time
We’ve stayed spinning
the constant slow moving
This is it, what we have.
I know it could become too much of a good thing.
All of the individual lines in this poem, including the title, are sourced from the diaries of Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley, as presented in “Two Artists Built a Spinning House, and Then Moved In”, an article by Laura Neilson in the New York Times. The phrases are presented with their original punctuation and capitalization.
