for Henry Rogers b. 1892, Bristol

during a 2008 workshop with Ross Clarke in which we wrote poems using objects associated with a person, where the arrangement of objects would show how we felt about that person.

my grandfather’s house,Waitui,
on Parker Street -
shells collected over several visits
scattered by the door,
bucket and spade still sandy,
the Hillman Hunter, rusted.
Inside, barley sugars by his bed for a treat
books tipping over on the shelves
and a whiskey glass by his chair,
empty now.