"Off this porch," Poltoi said through the screen when he showed up the next day, offering her an empty cold-cream jar for three dollars.
"Please, off this porch!" she shouted.
This porch — in fact, the whole building — was curiously constructed.
Then I went right through the porch, and was slammed to the earth beneath it...
For me, the real magic only began when we hauled the tree through the porch, through the hallway, to its place of honor, and made it ours.
Once, a fast-moving cardinal flew through the porch and into the screen door, propped open as we brought things out for a yard sale.
His mother has "gone out Saturday night, / and come home an hour or so before church": She punched clean through the porch window When we wouldn't let her in.
In the decades since I last carried my suitcases through the porch doorway and off to school, I have returned a few times, driving by mostly out of curiosity, not longing -- although there was comfort in the way the neighborhood had endured, outwardly unchanged.
"It went at about 100mph, straight through the porch and into their lounge, demolishing the glass and everything - wallop.
I moved through the porch crowd and made my way into the house.
