#456 - what can you see through the windows?

29.iii.21

456

2.88

what can you see through the windows?

 

Zeit Glimmer gives Fia a first tour

 

… and bear in mind they’re an innovation

they weren’t always here

and I can’t say they’ll always be

… before that … let me praise ceiling and walls

… you’ll probably think a roof is implied

but best not assume

… it could just be sky

 

but yes, the actual windows…

look into them… you can make a sun rise

 

you might be seeing a year ahead, five minutes ago

but you have to tell me what you see, it’s not for me to know

…

 

and by the way, everyone has this power

I mean to be lost in what they see

‘all at see’, we say … many bilious with

hooray!

…

 

hmmm… cat got your tongue?  then I’ll give you a tour

it’s every day different I have to warn you

it’s every window for itself

… if I say what there is to see, them maybe…

 

you can see they are arranged at all heights

come in every shape, just as you imagine…

some are portholes, most are squares

 

some days you actually see the glass flows

… creatures have been caught in there

and well, you’ll soon see what I mean

… we’ll go round the room first

I mean the outside, which is round the world

 

… when you return to where you first looked

it would be rare to see what you saw

… the windows can’t be where you were

 

… but I see now that you’re getting a glimmer

let’s… best not to overthink it …

 

do you see the green field?

and that’s asphodel, the genuine article

more of a meadow really

who’s grazing there?

a satyr! see! a herd!

one with the pipes and another reciting

 

call it a casement window

here’s Hybris on the molten throne

…

 

here’s a… can you see through the smoke?…

this factory’s called Satan’s Mill

 

do you see the protestors outside –

how they’re chaining themselves to the truth?

 

one window is just full of headlines

 

then no one knows what to believe

 

do you see people rising?

do you see how they’re misled?

 

here’s the portrait hall of emperors drowned

all the beheaded kings and queens

great Ozymandias himself –

each in the end cut down with time

 

and here are the people waiting

on a ship, on an island

a disorderly queue

they’re all alive, some have their children with them

but they’re all waiting for their lives to begin

 

the drinkers in this glass slider

and more smoke

comes out of their mouths, out of their ears, noses, houses…

centuries of the stuff

something double hung

 

here is a window of jungle, shrinking

and – watch long enough – the wild creatures come

some of them haven’t even got names yet

they’re only just being imagined …

then that was a fully grown jabberwock… gone

you’ve got to pay attention

 

a bay window

this one you can sit in

on one of these cushions here

here’s the bridge that’s halfway

and the mangroves under, nearly gone

 

a dormer, a clerestory

and take a look

this one’s just a clock

and a mouse runs up

 

do you see the cow jumping over the moon?

 

the gods are in this window, leadlit

wreaths of cloud for height

 

we’ve another one here that’s only cloud

it’s a test for your blinking

but the changes are there if you blink or not

 

you’ll need to climb up on a chair for this one

it’s just a book and the pages turn slowly

it’s a scroll, it’s the side of a cow

it’s a cave

 

this porthole often shows a flood

but sometimes a northern port

a weatherboard catch

sometimes it’s just the fish

a blue boat bobs

and the sea is green

but the bluest thing is the sky

 

shall I open the dome over us

… ah, but the bombs may be falling again

do you know –

last week I gave a boy a box full of windows

… little box you can hold in your hand…

always changing, like these, but take it anywhere …

and – can you imagine, cheek of the creature –

he said that he already had one!

no matter

 

here’s the window where I saw you before you were

… has to be just our secret, mustn’t tell

 

you will see for yourself soon… is it beginning?

 

I see you in the garden you dreamed

 

here’s an aeroplane up in the blue

 

I know you see the songs of the birds

such tiny hearts, so feeling

and keep the tune as well as yours

 

can you see the orchestra

how the light here out of doors

 

and here’s the mouth of a didgeridoo

who’s living in there?

 

there’s the old woman who lives in the shoe

 

can you see the room where you’re writing this down

writing to remember …

and where you dream it too … that’s to forget

 

see how some of the windows turn as you look in?

and round the corners…

be careful with that

you’re under glass… a window’s not a door

… but we will come to them

 

and get down low

this one like a keyhole

those people wrestling naked –

shall we give them some privacy?

 

they are the parents

you think it’s bad but

it’s so embarrassing for them

 

and come

here’s my kaleidoscope

for stars

and for under the skin

 

this here’s the change as good as a holiday!

 

now take your turn, your time around

and tell me what you see

 

this window’s full of cars and smoke

I know… but tell me anyway

I can see too

 

… but I’ll take my eyes away for now

I’ll close them

this is where you begin