ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Open the Paper Window (A Christmas poem)</title> <link rel = "stylesheet" type = "text/css" href = "/styles/richard.css" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- function MM_swapImgRestore() { //v3.0 var i,x,a=document.MM_sr; for(i=0;a&&i<a.length&&(x=a[i])&&x.oSrc;i++) x.src=x.oSrc; } function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0 var d=document; if(d.images){ if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array(); var i,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments; for(i=0; i<a.length; i++) if (a[i].indexOf("#")!=0){ d.MM_p[j]=new Image; d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];}} } function MM_findObj(n, d) { //v4.01 var p,i,x; if(!d) d=document; if((p=n.indexOf("?"))>0&&parent.frames.length) { d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document; n=n.substring(0,p);} if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all) x=d.all[n]; for (i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++) x=d.forms[i][n]; for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++) x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document); if(!x && d.getElementById) x=d.getElementById(n); return x; } function MM_swapImage() { //v3.0 var i,j=0,x,a=MM_swapImage.arguments; document.MM_sr=new Array; for(i=0;i<(a.length-2);i+=3) if ((x=MM_findObj(a[i]))!=null){document.MM_sr[j++]=x; if(!x.oSrc) x.oSrc=x.src; x.src=a[i+2];} } //--> </script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css" type="text/css"> </head> <body bgcolor="#CCFFFF" text="#000000" onLoad="MM_preloadImages('images/btnewsover.gif','images/btvennelover.gif')"> <table width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align=center> <tr> <td width="110" height="20">&nbsp;</td> <td width="42" height="20">&nbsp;</td> <td width="368" height="20">&nbsp;</td> <td width="19" height="20">&nbsp;</td> <td width="111" height="20">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="110" height="30">&nbsp;</td> <td colspan="2" rowspan="2"> <table width="410" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bordercolor="#000000"> <tr> <td width="410" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="ffffcc"> <img src="images/logo.gif" alt="hydrohotel.net - a Richard Price webspace"> <h1>Open the Paper Window</h1> <p class="maintext">Open the paper window  <br> there s whisky, repatriated from duty-free.</p> <p class="maintext">A little ankle bracelet  <br> Mhairi where are you now? </p> <p class="maintext">A crouching platoon, months under the double bed, <br> a lick-down mine. </p> <p class="maintext">Open the paper window  snow! the only white Christmas  <br> four brothers  wool bales  piled low on the hurtling sledge.</p> <p class="maintext">Scaletrix. A red car, a green car  <br> they re from my father to my father.<br> We were just intermediaries. </p> <p class="maintext">It seems repetitive to mention the train set, <br> but later you could hide hash in the papier-maché tunnel. </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window. It counts against me <br> I can remember not a single present my mother received. </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window  a bit of peace and quiet from you shower <br> or there ll be no Christmas this year! </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window  a tangerine, <br> miraculous, the orange for learners. <br> A tall candle, E-type red, has melted the pewter candlestick. <br> There s a brown-and-green black-and-white tv, <br> call it television please. </p> <p class="maintext">Bells and mirrors for a baby thirty-five years ago. <br> Bells and mirrors for a baby ten years ago. </p> <p class="maintext">Thomas Hardy, cheer us up! </p> <p class="maintext">Open the paper window  <br> Mum and Dad are going to Midnight Mass. <br> (You re in trouble  you were seen enjoying yourself <br> at Midnight Mass.) </p> <p class="maintext">How does Father Christmas fill the stocking? <br> We stayed awake as long as we could! </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window  <br> glowing pastels.</p> <p class="maintext">Open the window  <br> tinsel. </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window. <br> Try not to electrocute yourself this time! They aren t sweeties! </p> <p class="maintext">Black bags of exhausted wrapping. <br> She definitely said batteries included. </p> <p class="maintext">For the nineteenth time you re not getting a gun <br> for bloody Christmas! </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window. <br> Too much brandy butter. </p> <p class="maintext">Open the window, the last paper window <br> (it s quiet here, under the tree)  </p> <p class="maintext">the present: abstract, perfect, <br> waiting to be opened. </p> <br> <br> <iframe src="http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&nou=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hydrohotelnet-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=1857549201" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> <p class="copyright">All texts unless otherwise stated are &copy; Richard Price </p> <br> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="10" height="30">&nbsp;</td> <td width="112" height="30">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="110"> <table width="100" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <td><a href="index.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('home','','/images/bthomeover.gif',1)"><img name="home" border="0" src="/images/home.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="poetry.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('poetry','','/images/btpoetryover.gif',1)"><img name="poetry" border="0" src="/images/poetry.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="fiction.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('fiction','','/images/btfictionover.gif',1)"><img name="fiction" border="0" src="/images/fiction.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="artprojects.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('artprojects','','/images/btartprojectsover.gif',1)"><img name="artprojects" border="0" src="/images/artprojects.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="borndig.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('borndig','','/images/btborndigover.gif',1)"><img name="borndig" border="0" src="/images/borndig.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="recordings.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('recordings','','/images/btrecordover.gif',1)"><img name="recordings" border="0" src="/images/recordings.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="translations.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('translations','','/images/bttransover.gif',1)"><img name="translations" border="0" src="/images/translations.gif" width="100" height="50"></a></td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="10" bgcolor="#999999">&nbsp;</td> <td width="112"> <table width="100" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <td><a href="news.htm" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('news','','/images/btnewsover.gif',1)"><img name="news" border="0" src="/images/news.gif" width="100" height="50" alt="news &amp; 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