poetry

Ode to Betsy’s Linen (Valspar #7005-16)

Ode to Betsy’s Linen (Valspar #7005-16)

at Bates
I gained an appreciation for
off-white:
all the cream correspondence they sent
before I even arrived,
every dorm wall and pipe
painted this warmer
easier-to-be-in shade,
not blinding white but ivory

and now for years and years
we’ve dipped our brushes in
“Betsy’s Linen,”
her tentative cheeriness
papering over whatever other gestures there’ve been,
making the setting a little more calm
a little more circumspect
(not really changing the parameters of anything)
but smoothing order and a warm openness
onto difficult days

things are almost never black-and-white
but sometimes they’re neutral

poetry

crisp trim

crisp trim

usually I’m not one
for crisp edges
clear boundaries
things being one-or-the-other

yet I find
painting baseboards
surprisingly satisfying

I decide and dictate
you will be wall
you floor
you trim

now I make sharp lines
strict delineations
keep things separated
for once

poetry

touch-up painting

touch-up painting

it’s so easy
to let the years go by
without registering
the little scuffs and dings
the chinks in the smooth clean surfaces
carelessness’s scars

it doesn’t take long
to bring attention and a clean brush
to see and smooth the rough patches
to touch the scarred bits with
soft gentle strokes
until the wall glows whole again
and we know the joy
of putting things right