PrintPoem – SANDHOUSE (By Elaine Nadal)
SANDHOUSE – By Elaine Nadal
When her house was still standing,
it sufficed as a place to bathe, eat, and sleep–
a space for the familiar
formed by strangers
with the same blood
drops sprinkled on the dirt,
conspicuously evoking words
that have been written on the stone walls of a cave–
crushed, combined with sand
to create a structure that would topple over time.
Observing what’s left,
she hears the malediction within the breeze:
a new dwelling must be built
with her own hands,
using only the spoils.