2007/sunlight

Sunlight on the pillows
stacked high on the wicker
chair,
overflow from the sofa.
But I refuse to admit there’s
too many pillows for someone
to actually be able to sit down.
As opposed to admiring the sofa,
parked there in the room,
pillows at each end,
hibiscus Hawaiian print
and a ticking stripe.
Not the hibiscus I wanted,
the same print in a different
shade,
less neutral than the one
I chose at first.
It took so long to get the sofa,
after walls and doors and floors
were done,
by then the fabric I wanted was gone.
Not just sold out,
but no longer made.
I had carried that swatch
of fabric for years.
With the soft silk velvet
in a sage green, everyone
told me not to use.

I compromised and adapted,
what else can you do –
on the brighter print and
a coriander denim, which
seemed okay at the time.
But, in fact, is so rough I
want to cover it with a sheet.
Oh what a tangled web we weave
when we seek to match
and decorate.
You never sit on the sofa
any more, saying you
can’t see the t.v.,
though the new t.v. is larger
than the old one you used
to watch from there.
I sit on my end still,
moving the pillows so
I can,
protecting my skin from
its rough cloth.

2/3/07