That Ugly Light in the Living Room

I reflect on how the littlest daily reminders of things can become symbols for lost dreams. Or I just really do have a really ugly living room and can't do a thing about it right now.

It is peach colored dulled glass with crystal cutouts

and it is remarkably ugly

-as you pointed out the day you moved up here with me-

even compared to the waterstained walls and careworn floors-

faded wallpaper with jagged edges and

half-painted windowsills, as if the previous tenants got interrupted

in the middle of painting, like Roanoke citizens,

and just vanished into the ether one day.

 

In fact, the whole living room is downright depressing.

 

But then you couldn't find a job,

amd I lost the baby,

and we covered the windows in plastic to save 1/4 tank of precious oil,

each month, as winter drained our most meager reserves.

Then followed family crises, and non-stop cold, power outages, unpaid bills-

and now spring planting takes days of time every week.

We retire bone-weary each night, to sit a few moments

before crashing to bed.

Dishes go unwashed, floors unswept, for days.

 

As we both struggle, workers and students and artists each.

 

There's just never time to get caught up:

On laundry, or dusting, or dishes;

let alone the walls that need resurfacing

so we can change that damned light-

once the panels are painted to cover the water stains

and cracks letting the wind pass through, shuddering like it does. 

All too soon family will come to visit,

and now the other room needs repainting;

my job is on the line,

and the floors must be swept, and beds prepared.

 

Lily-of-the-valley scented, fresh like spring, when finished.

 

Somehow, I have to believe

we'll eventually get to this room

when the children are back with their mothers,

and the laundry finished, the floors swept

letters sent to friends patiently awaiting updates-

dead, alive, or otherwise entrenched in life?

They ponder, more than a year now,

since I first fled my old life to move to this place

and settled in to make a living

in a house with the ugliest light fixture I have ever seen,

but such a simple thing will have to wait.

 

Guess it's going to have to do a while longer, yet, isn't it?

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Larry Dyson]

Outwardly your living room may appear as you describe ..but to see the real stories you produce there.. papering the walls of Our lives...it is such a rich and deeply textured tapistry that actually adorns the walls and the ceiling is hung with glass beads and drapes the UGLY .peach colored light until all one can see is the shine of each surface reflecting the gems you have bestowed on our inner skies.

[JENY]

Yes….
That is the fact…
A very nice write….
Very authentic expressions….
Liked the way you expressed..the theme….

[Vesa Lee]

I've always felt that there's always something just below the surface of your pieces.
Some little "Easter egg" of sorts for us, the audience to find and interpret for ourselves. Intended or not.
Maybe it sounds weird, but truths in my life seem to be made clearer after viewing them through the veil of your experiences.
That's why I love your style, your voice.
>>>>
when the children are back with their mothers,
and the laundry finished, the floors swept
>>>>
What would we do without your unique insight and ability to share it with the rest of the world? *laughs*
Phenomenal as usual!

[Stammers]

We've all got an ugly light. I like the honestly and personality this has. I also like the commitment to write this for you, and not for other people, sometimes you just need to do that.

[Dayna Ray]

haha I love the practicality of this one.

[Analgesia]

I enjoy the way you make characters of the tenants vicariously through the descriptions of the house. I also find the way this poem is both modern and profound very intrigueing, and impressive: it's very difficult to do after all. The one part I don't like is that last line, it seems extranious and a little silly. Thank you for writing something worth reading, I hope I was of some help.

[blob blob]

"Some how, I have to believe we'll eventually get to this room
when the children are back with their mothers,
and the laundry finished, the floors swept
letters sent to friends patiently awaiting updates-
dead, alive, or otherwise entrenched in life?"
...i really like how this poem feels--
i think or feel that this has a reflective
yet philosophical mood--very thoughtful...
i love this--a wonderful poem...:-)

[alesuriko]

First some criticism, in the last line of the first stanza you spelled "other" wrong. Second line of the third stanza you spelled "and" wrong. Very descriptive and your background stories are well worked out. However, I felt that this piece was rather boring, not much to keep you hooked or intrigued. The concept of centering a story all around one old, worn down, ugly/damaged light fixture is intriguing but I didn't feel the piece lived up to that.

[An owl on the moon]

I walked through your words as if through a meadow... gleaning thoughts and feelings of what seemed a year or so in time... captured so vividly through your voice... lingering on wishes... looking over some painful memories... Powerfully emotional... stunning truly.

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

Very moving poem.. an ugly light and the many struggles and hardships in life..
I agree with you about simple things that are ugly and drab making everything worse as if a reminder, not that one is needed..very strong poem ..

Chloe