Cottages

Strange little cottages
like a child’s picture,
strange little boxes.
Front door in the centre,
a window either side,
a step up to the front door,
a step up to the side.

Kitchen, laundry, bath
in the lean to on the back,
back door at the centre,
tiny windows each side.

The higgledy piggledy patchworks
of windows along the sides
were jabbed in by the farmer
for his workers’ families.

Three little cottages
built in a paddock
now surrounded by the town
that flowed down the road
over the farm
like an incoming tide
surging up the sand.