Birthday

she lives in this house over there has her world outside it. grapples the earth with her fingers and her mouth she's five years old. threads worms on a string keeps spiders in her pockets collects fly-wings in a jar scrubs horse-flies and pinches them on a line. she's got one friend he lives next door they listen to the weather he knows how many freckles she's got, she scratches his beard. she's painting huge books glues them together, they saw a big raven it glided down the sky-she touched it. today's a birthday- they're smoking cigars he got a chain of flowers sows a bird in her knickers they're smoking cigars lie in the bathtub, chain of flowers