renovation

All the neighbours come to visit
as its mudroom is unhinged
taken down to the foundation
its shape still in the vertebrae of twisted nails
against the flank of the building
and the scrub tree that filled up the few feet of backyard
that twisted and corkscrewed against the light stand
filled with leaves
and the limbs of children
who jumped from its branches to mudroom roof
hitting the roof of other houses
shrieking at each other
to just
jump
down
as the slow undulation of siren
bled up the alley
now stumps for attention
at the property line




The boy on the old ten speed and the bigger boy
on the mountain bike
whose slow loops of the alley
make the slight twist grind of grit
and green glitter
under their tires
as they board up from the street to the top
of the mud room foundation
and its fifty-year-old lino
and jump
and jump again
the sweat at their temples as they wheel away
to the boy walking down the alley
with his brothers
and sisters
his mother
his father
following behind
who picks up a stone and throws it
at the raw boards that gleam orange
in late afternoon sunlight
help me
throw rocks
he beseeches the sister hopping
from one foot to the other
the bobbles in her many pig tails
clicking
against each other
the brother racing from person
to person
laughing




The women with strollers
used to the high-stepping over glass
popping wheelies as their children chattered
commentary on the tight space between the house
and the fence the wires that slapped
percussion against tar paper siding
the pigeon-streaked vine that persisted
up the side of the house
and the pigeons that clucked
and stared
down
who roll right through
to the man with the scraggly mustache
and ball cap
who sidles by
his eyes flicking up
down
before he spies someone
whistles down the alley
and is gone