Dismantling the House

By Stephen Dunn

Rent a flatbed with a winch.

With the right leverage

anything can be hoisted, driven off.

Or the man with a Bobcat comes in,

then the hauler with his enormous truck.

A leveler or a lawyer does the rest;

experts always are willing to help.

The structure was old, rotten in spots.

Hadn't it already begun to implode?

Believe you've just sped the process up.

Photographs, toys, the things that break

your heart—let's trust

they would have been removed,

perhaps are safe with the children

who soon will have children of their own.

It's over. It's time for loss to build

its tower in the yard where you

are merely a spectator now.

Admit you'd like to find something

discarded or damaged, even gone,

and lift it back into the world.

Copyright Credit: Stephen Dunn, "“Dismantling the House”" from (: , )

Source: Poetry (February 2003)