What’s that noise? (IP)

There’s a rustle, like a scuffle, or a snuffle
in the drawer –
I open it wide, and their inside –
2 bright eyes and a furry nose,
I scream! and away it goes
scuttles through the back, finds a crack,
to return for a while to the great outdoor.

There’s a rattle in the dashboard of the car
an intermittent sort of tap
but we cannot find the gap …
it’s an irritating clatter,
though it doesn’t seem to matter,
if you press down here it goes …
for now,
but he keeps waiting, for he knows …
(it isn’t easy to ignore,
‘don’t let it make you sore’) …
soon the little clatter will return …

Just dropping off to sleep,
in the silence there’s a scrapey sort of crackle,
and then more –
‘Who’s going to explore?’
light on, trace the odd little sound
to the waste paper bin –
a spider’s crawling round
in the bunched up, scrunched up paper:
‘Is that really making all that noisy din?’

Listening to music as he works –
interwoven, there’s a ‘tut, tut’
’put, put’ …  ‘put, put, put’;
it’s not the recording, it’s not the machine
where does it come from, what does it mean?
ear goes exploring, track that sound …
is it getting louder?
the source is found –
a gurgle in a sink again,
a problem with the drain
recurrent problem with that manhole down the lane
–call the friendly water board
– they're waiting for such news –
meanwhile, don’t do lots of washing,
and be careful to restrict
the frequency of flushing all the loos!