This 'Old Eyesore' Is Here To Stay --- We Love Our Pets
This piece is a testimonial to the strong and unwavering love many of us tend to bestow upon our pets - been there - done this -
Just the other day, while I was talking with a friend, a curious idiosyncrasy - I hadn’t known I had -
Surfaced out of nowhere when she, not so diplomatically, made the comment, “That old couch is looking really bad!”
“Wha’da’ya’ mean,” I countered her...“it may be kinda mushy, but that old thing sleeps better than my thousand dollar bed!”
“Maybe so,” she bit me back, “but how it sleeps, Darnell...ain’t what actually prompted me to say what I just said!
“Flippin’ cushions only works the first time that ya’ do it...after that - the nicer sides the best ya’ got to show,
And if, in fact, as I suspect, their better sides are up...no two ways about it...that old eyesore’s got to go!”
“Lookin’ around it ain’t too hard to figure out your weakness...you’re obviously a major fan of really fine antiques,
But even though it’s far from new...it’s also far from - ‘fine’, and - guessing you’ve grown used to it - you need to know --- it reeks!
“Both the legs are gnawed to bits...the skirt’s been ripped to shreds...the armrests - I’m assuming - when this thing was new, were round...
And anyone with eyes can see the little puffs of stuffing peaking through the vinyl where the buttons once were found.
“It’s boogered end to end, Darnell,” she fought to make her case, “and why you don’t just burn that thing completely baffles me!
Come on,” she quipped, persuasively, “I’ll help ya’ drag it out. I saw one on the web last night --- real nice --- nearby --- and free!”
“Not so fast,” I argued…“there are certain crucial factors explaining why - despite their issues - things like this are kept.
For three days short of ten sweet years, that cushion - with the dent - is where the greatest dog - and friend - I’ve ever known had slept!
“On stormy nights, when he was little, Cindy’d come to join me, and I was glad to have her near...it seemed to sooth me, too,
But every time I’d flip her cushion - thinking she’d be pleased - she’d try to make me understand that “flipping” wouldn’t do.
“The first few times I’d done the flip - then briefly left the room - only minutes later, on returning, I would find
She’d dragged it off the sofa --- turned the dented-side back up --- leaving me concerned about the soundness of my mind!
“I fin’ly caught her in the act and figured out her motive, and - giving up on how the sofa’d look the best it can...
Since that morning “Cindy’s cushion” hasn’t once been flipped, and, though she’s gone and wouldn’t know...it won’t be flipped again!
“The chewed up legs are Cindy’s work as well...it’s known as, ‘teething’...while most the rips an’ snags were made by a cat I’d christened, ‘Finn’...
A wild, elusive feline that I fin’ly won the trust of, but had to scheme for several days to fin’ly coax him in!
“The two of them - Finn and Cindy - had their little tiffs...but almost every night, for years, the two’d dismiss their spat,
And wind up in the morning curled up tight in - ‘Cindy’s dent’, ‘cause - just like me - despite their feud - she truly loved that cat!
“So - No, Virginia...this old ‘eyesore’s definitely here to stay...and every little episode its - ‘flaws’ - remind me of...
Every stain...every scar...and even every smell...warms my heart with mem’ries of our everlasting love.”
FYI - I've now got 4 new Audio-CDs - @ 4 1/2 hours each = 62 diversely varied pieces. They’re listed on EBAY - under - “Mark Stellinga Poetry” - or available by simply contacting me at -- mark@writerofbooks.com -- should those of you who enjoy listening to poems as well as reading them - and particularly those of you that travel - care to be so entertained. (We use safe and simple - PayPal) There are also several of my audio pieces on YouTube ---
Cheers,
Mark
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