Devon

“the leaking thatch drip,

the murmur of the rain”

—Ted Hughes, “Error,”

Birthday Letters

____________________

Under the drumming thatch—

I sit here listening to the rain

My vicarage rotting like a coffin—

Foundering in the weeds

Sitting at my elm desk alone—

Staring at a blank sheet of paper

The silent typewriter waits—

Leaky days, murder in the rain

Ted brought me to Devon—

And that’s where I buried him