7 OCTOBER 1972, Page 17

Original Tin

The sky is tin, the street is tin, and now A tin man, red and yellow walking as a spring unwinds.

His two halves do not fit exactly but He perseveres, and finds a house of tin on which Are printed red bricks, blue windows, And the picture of a door at which he knocks (No answer), says in his tin voice, "I'm here," then enters.

Now his face is printed on the printed windows Looking out past slanting lines of white.

" I'm here," He says in his tin voice, and notes the rattling of the sky. Russell Hoban