ja, so.
a report from the front.
a veritable torrent of rain the other day
brought a good-sized chunk of ceiling down
upon the freshly-made guest and my ersatz studio,
covering all with a thick layer of black grime and
grit-filth and, oh yes, lots and lots of fetid water.
lovely.
all this an hour before our mysterious guests from japan
were to arrive to stay in the now much airier, and much more befouled room..
leaving me quite distraught to find myself in such a disagreeable predicament,
squinting sorrowfully at the two ruined sewing machines, and heaps of fine fabrics
and hand-tatted heirloom laces now all sodden and soiled.

as many benefits as our miraculous homestead provides us,
this whole ceiling falling in business has simply got to end.
somewhere.
i had thought it was over the last time they fixed the roof, alas-
apparently not. i suppose if you want to live in a gorgeous 250 year mansion for next to nothing, you should just accept that caving in firmaments go part and parcel.
still. misguided as it may be, i derive a large portion of my inner sense of security from that old roof over one’s head notion. and my things, well, i like them. i like them much better when they aren’t sodden and soggy and soaked in scum.

i wonder if the chimney hasn’t caved in.
this morning a bird flew down it and was trapped.
this one, i couldn’t save, as the fireplace is bricked up
and covered with a decorative grille
(which i did manage to wrench off, to no avail..)
i drank my morning tea listening to its frantic flutterings.
then, stepping out for even more tea, i nearly stepped on
another unfortunate bird-
this one, embryonic, encased (partly) in a tiny white eggshell.
fallen from the nest too soon.
a red stain on the road, and the hatchling long-necked
and blind, bleeding- skin gray with feathers unformed.
i took it on a leaf as a gift.

our guests, oof or oni (demon, in japanese) and pika (as in pikachu)
are two very sweet performance artists and musicians from osaka.
an interview with oof , and her photographs .
we had never met them before, but the mess and missing roof
seemed not to bother them, as they described our house as being
“like a dream..”

they went wandering today and found the man that takes the pseudo-antebellum pictures.
very bellocq, no? well shades of pretty baby, anyhow. damn cute.

on their way home they reported that they had been followed by a large man who was “doing masturbation”. ahem.

also, my excellent purchase of the day- ESSENCE OF CHICKEN (with tangkwei!)
to cure wot ails ye.

i bought a second bottle to be given as a prize to the one
who can answer me a riddle i will posit at a later date,
when it is not so late.