Arlene Weiner: My Desk Chair

Female, useful, you keep your dignity 
though your lap’s full of odd socks,
haphazard mending. 

You were old sixty years ago,
dressed in Goodwill’s sad maroon stain,
scarred with nailholes that once secured cane.

I stripped you, refreshed you
with paint the color of cantaloupe flesh,
and later with gay yellow. 

Now dowager, throne, your sturdy arms 
bear up my weight when my thighs sigh
and I need assistance to rise. 
   
Patient, four-legged mount,
I think you will outlive me.
Last of a set of five, kept 
when I let go of the side chairs,
I will leave you to heirs.

 

Copyright 2022 Arlene Weiner

Arlene Weiner’s books include More (Ragged Sky, 2022). She lives in Pittsburgh.

3 comments on “Arlene Weiner: My Desk Chair”

1. Elizabeth Anne Socolow

   December 31, 2022

   

   wonderful poem, beautiful chair

   LikeLike

   Reply
   • Vox Populi

     December 31, 2022

     

     Yes, I love Arlene Weiner’s work. So precise. So wise.

     >

     LikeLike

     Reply
   • Vox Populi

     December 31, 2022

     

     It is a wonderful poem. Thank you, Elizabeth.

     >

     LikeLiked by 1 person

     Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

Δ

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.