Eggshell Eggshell
We want the insides of our rooms
to resemble the outside of an egg.
Not the color of a white eggshell,
but its texture. Perhaps also the color,
Benjamin Moore Eggshell Eggshell,
for wherever we need to reflect lots
of light, kitchens, bathrooms, mud
rooms. When we look at our walls
from inside our homes, we want to
feel that we are looking at the outer
edge of an egg, its shell, and we
also want to feel we are within it.
We want to have our egg and eat it,
too, and we do. To draw the planet
Earth, we draw a blue circle with
a green flotation vest flung round
its body for land, blue scribbles
wherever it isn’t green. Our planet
can fit on paper, on a tabletop.
We have seen it from outer space
in a photograph. All we want is
to pop by a neighboring galaxy
so we can look out its windows
at us. What do we look like to them.
I swear, woman, the way your mind works. You are so observant about everyday things, and you write them back to us in the most amazing ways.
ReplyDeleteI love the way on successive days you ruminate on the ordinariness of the big old memento mori mortality question, and then reveal the extraordinariness imbedded in painting a room in neutral tones. It's a short hop from the window to the galaxy, and I'm grateful you never forget this.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks so much for letting me know about Sufjan Stevens -- looks right up my "alley."
Love the form you used for your poem this morning!
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem inspired by a fascinating article! I love your humorous interjection of "We want to have our egg and eat it"; the sense conveyed of in and out, perception, reality, transparency. The vision of the planet with its "green flotation vest flung round /its body for land" is vivid. Great use of details!
ReplyDeleteUntil today I had never thought of eggs when I bought eggshellwhilte paint. I thought of pearls maybe!!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I really do like the inside of my rooms look like the outside of eggs : )
You rock Hannah! xx
I used to like the color eggshell but now it seems too drab. Your poems are never drab though!
ReplyDelete