Some poorly drawn clouds roll down the bluescape. Pelicans orbit the wind’s elevator, so close I can almost hear the air rattling their feathers.
By the time I’m just a dot among roofs and roads they’ll glide all the way to their fishing grounds. Thum-pah of the helicopter. Next door Anton, who gardens for his elderly mum, gets the chainsaw going and sets about the ancient vine that’s muscling the wall towards collapse. The windchime declaims the obvious and now my old cat lopes up the path miaowing, leaps and whumps onto my chest scattering the dada-ist poem I was composing: slivered sentences and cut-up phrasing everywhere.
So there it is: cloud whumps, birds chainsaw, helicopter miaows, traffic windchimes, cat declaims, the leaves of the young gum rattle and finally freed, there is nothing behind the wall except a space where the wind whistles.
Image: Suburban Vernacular by Tor Lindstrand c/- Flickr Images of suburban and rural architecture from around Western Australia. A piece of prose for Dverse where Merril is hosting and asks us to write 144 words including the phrase, “there is nothing behind the wall except a space where the wind whistles” from the poem Drawings by Children
by Lisel Mueller. If you’ve ever wondered how to make a dada-ist poem – here’s Tristan Tzara’s instructions (best don’t do it on a windy afternoon with your ageing cat on the prowl)
And here’s The Kinks from 1966 with Sunny Afternoon
Peter Frankis writes 
This made me laugh.
My cat is strictly indoors, but he still causes havoc–he’s inserted his own thoughts using my keyboard.
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A delightful read! We have two cats in our household, and they remind us daily exactly who is in charge!
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Great stuff indeed. Enjoyed the picture, the sounds, and then the marvelous re-shuffle. Well done.
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Love a bit of Dada. Love this prose, too. Completely empathise with Anton; I have an ancient grapevine that’s holding up a shared fence.
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And that it was a Sunday of course. 🙄
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Love this, Peter! 😀
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Love this especially; “The windchime declaims the obvious and now my old cat lopes up the path miaowing, leaps and whumps onto my chest scattering the dada-ist poem.” 🙂
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I love the way you wove this piece in and upon itself Peter. Wonderful images emerged… 🙂 it was a superb read!
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A plethora of great word-smithing here; terrific vignettes and suburban moments. I always spell it Meowing; smile.
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Thanks Glen. Yep she’s got a definite ‘a’ in her meow – which becomes longer and louder the closer we get to feeding time (or any other time she requires something) 😀
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Nice In vivo. The house is beautiful especially with the colored filter on it. I went to flicker album and see new homes are being built with solar power. Seems that would be perfect for there.
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You’d think so wouldn’t you? with all that sunshine 😎
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The good thing about dadaist poetry…there’s always another equally valid arrangement to be found. (K)
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So much poetry with a lighthearted sweep at the end – a great write!
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Such a noisy poem! Loved the vibrancy of this (especially the pelicans). And that suburban pile. I imagine Moonee Ponds is full of them.
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Well I’ll have to ask Dame Edna about that 😀
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🙂
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A stunning piece that appealed to my senses, Peter, especially those ‘poorly drawn clouds’, the air rattling the pelicans’ feathers (a bird I’d love to see in real life), and helicopter and chainsaw breaking the silence of my Tuesday morning let alone your suburban Sunday afternoon. Well done, Anton, too, for freeing and saving the wall.
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I love this and the muscley vine and the birds eye view of you disappearing .
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So much to love in this vignette… though I can feel how you wish for a little bit less noise (especially less of the chainsaw)
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“The windchime declaims the obvious and now my old cat lopes up the path miaowing, leaps and whumps onto my chest scattering the dada-ist poem I was composing: slivered sentences and cut-up phrasing everywhere.”
Love this, Peter!
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Thanks so much – glad you enjoyed (it’s literally true – except for the dada-ist bit)
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absolutely love the fun and joy of this, most uplifting!
that last sentence says it all 🙂
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