Houses, Gates and Doors

Alice C. Linsley

Houses are both comforting and eerie. When it is our own house it feels like home, but when the house is not familiar, we feel like strangers. Or when the house empty or furnished but abandoned, there is a strangeness that brings unease.

A closed door stirs contrary emotions. The adventurous soul wants to open the door to see what is on the other side. For some people doors are better left shut, passed by, or ignored.

A door is a solid partition. It encloses and hides. Some gates conceal while others seem to invite us to visit.

Houses, doors and gates are good images for poetic reflection, and over the years some of my writing students have produced vocative lines related to these commonplace objects. Here are a few of the more memorable lines:

J. Leaver (Grade 11)

Wall hangings depict the history of the house
Where distant smells hold fast.
Framed portraits depict unfailing youth
Where timbers rot and floor boards creak.

Salim Fauras (Grade 9)

When thinking of home
I miss my everyday people,
The sweet saffron of Casablanca
And the freshness of Geneva.


Mason O’Connor (Grade 10)

Doors close if not opened early.
Keys disappear if not found in time.
Life is timed. Gates and doors shut.


Martiese Morone (Grade 12)

Do I Really Want to Know?

Is it someone I know?
I stand petrified, silent
wondering what's behind the closed door.
Is it dark?

I stand petrified, silent
Is someone there?
Is it dark?
I raise my hand to knock.

Is someone there?
Do I really want to know?
I raise my hand to knock.
Slowly I put down my hand.

Do I really want to know?
I raise my hand quickly before I lose my nerve.
Slowly I lower my hand.
Knock. Knock.

I raise it quickly before I lose my nerve.
Silence answers.
Knock. Knock.
No sign of life.

Silence answers.
Then hearing a deep voice,
a sign of life,
familiarity drives away my fear.

Then hearing a deep voice,
I take a freeing breath.
Familiarity drives away my fear.
Sighing, I put down my hand.

I take a freeing breath.
It is someone I know.
Sighing, I put down my hand.
I really want to know.