The Brick Kiln

the little boy squatted to piss
in front of the huge mouth of the oven
he was tired/of repaying the debt
he was born/carrying the last obligation
of his father/no more self-lost
than his son who in seven years
didn't wonder how many bricks
he had baked or how many times
he had opened the torrefied door to Hell
who didn't stumble when the overseer
pushed him to his feet and slapped
him on the penis with a blunt stick

but at night when the little boy
dreams of building a castle made
all of wood/of burning it down
the dream stiffens in his hand and

each morning he wakes/owing nothing

BY MTC CRONIN

MTC Cronin has had six books of poetry published, the most recent being Talking to Neruda's Questions and Bestseller (both Vagabond Press, 2001). Another collection, My Lover's Back, is forthcoming in 2002 (UQP). She is currently working on a PhD, Poetry and Law: Discourses of the Social Heart, and has recently received an Established Writers New Work Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. Her books are available by contacting her at: <margie_cronin@hotmail.com> or ph: (02) 9550 2918.

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