Bringing a gun into a house
changes it.
You lay it on the kitchen table,
stretched out like something dead
itself: the grainy polished wood stock
jutting over the edge,
the long metal barrel
casting a grey shadow
on the green-checked cloth.
At first it’s just practice:
perforating tins
dangling on orange string
from trees in the garden.
Then a rabbit shot
clean through the head.
Soon the fridge fills with creatures
that have run and flown.
Your hands reek of gun oil.
And entrails. You trample
fur and feathers. There’s a spring
in your step; your eyes gleam
like when sex was fresh.
A gun brings a house alive.
I join in the cooking: jointing
and slicing, stirring and tasting –
excited as if the King of Death
had arrived to feast, stalking
out of winters woods,
his black mouth
sprouting golden crocuses.
- entrails
- (n) internal organs, intestines
- gleam
- (v) to shine brightly, sparkle
- jointing
- (v) to cut meat into joints
- perforating
- (v) to pierce, penetrate
- reek
- (v) to have a strong smell