My mother set the house on fire once

She was cooking chips

There was a power cut

She left the chip pan on the stove

So took us to the archaeology museum

And while we were studying the fossils and neolithic man

The power came back on again.

The oil caught fire.

 

The day before the fire

Mother had put her leg

Through the kitchen ceiling

Making a big hole.

The day before that there was a leak in the pipes

Which was why the floorboards were up

Which is why her foot went through

And made the hole for the smoke to go upstairs

The smoke came out of the open bedroom window. Alerting the neighbours boy

So instead the house burning down

The house was saved.