Wednesday, July 19, 2006

A Set That Couldn't Be Separated


I once had to cut a couch in two with an ax. I had purchased an ugly but serviceable beige couch at Goodwill (part of a three piece set that they wouldn't separate) with my friend Angela to furnish my new apartment. I had broken up with someone and left the furniture, thinking I'd start fresh. My bank account, however, did not have the energy to start over except with one new mattress and the other treasures we could find at Goodwill.

Angela is a master at getting things done, whereas I am a terrified Eeyore-type in light of common tasks like moving or putting things together. Angela says, Other people can do (fill in the blank) and so can we. My outlook is somewhat different, i.e., Everyone else knows more than we do and this is a clusterfuck loosely coming apart at the seams. This said, I am also a lucky person -- things have a way of working out for me. So I didn't find it surprising when we ended up at Goodwill on the truck unload day by accident. There was a small crowd there, waiting to lay claim to all the good stuff. Hence, I got the set that would not be separated.

In retrospect, the set was a disaster. It blended with the ugly renter carpet and was hellish to move. When I got rid of it, garbage collectors took the chair and ottoman, but not the couch. It sat by my Dumpster for weeks, and I watched my couch outside the window in all sorts of weather, in the rain and in the sun, my mistake big enough to see from my distant window.


Michelle's Spell of the Day

"We walk in circles, so limited by our own anxieties that we can no longer distinguish between true and false, between the gangster's whim and the purest ideal." Ingmar Bergman

Green Dragon

one glass of champagne
one part MIDORI liqueur
cherry garnish

Benedictions and Maledictions

First published in Spire Press:

Mustang Island

The rumor of horses persists
even though we never see
any. In the evenings, the girls
shave their legs in the Gulf
of Mexico, that comforting
warmth that makes every cut
sting. Sometimes the rain
comes down for days, but not
often enough to keep people
away from a beach that isn’t
exactly what you think it will be.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honey,
How adorably cute! I remember all too well that terrible tale of the couch and the weirdo lurking man who'd never seem to leave. Poor honey. I simply love the poem. I would ;) Bless your heart. kiss kiss

Tikilee said...

Like the poem. Short yet significant. Furniture with a history can be very strange indeed. The bed is always the first thing to be replaced.

ZZZZZZZ said...

Taking an axe to a couch is a good vent for anger. When I was up north with my family my cousin and his fiance came up their with her kid and I didn't like her and I extremely disliked her hell spawn and we had this couch we were getting rid of and my boyfriend could see how upset I was and he handed me and axe and said, "hey its getting thrown out anyway." I felt much better after I demolished it. Lovely post.

Anonymous said...

Dear Michelle,

Yes, another lovely post. I'm now imagining you swinging away with an ax, a cheerful thought. Wonderful! Bravo!

JR's Thumbprints said...

"Cutting" a couch with an axe, as opposed to "chopping" seems more feminine. Nice choice of a word, makes me visualize the task at hand. --Jim

Anonymous said...

The Purple Heart wouldn't take my gothic coffee table. Hey, I was GIVING it away!

Anonymous said...

Today's triple-header "Quote of the Day":#1: Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.--Jesus;#2: Einstein's revelation that the universe is expanding in all directions means that every point in the universe is the center and, thus, that every point is the point of origin. EVERY point is the point of origin;THIS point, where your eyes meet this word. is the center of the universe....Which is to say, the universe is a language, is a text that speaks. When we "hear" the speech that is the universe, we are connected to the unseen speaker; a relationship is acknowledged. And yet, because we and the universe are of a piece, we find ourselves in the peculiar position of being a word that reads and hears itself.--Anita Doyle;#3: What?--Richard M. Nixon.

Anonymous said...

Are Bergman's symbols intentional or organic? Woody really likes him. Figures.

Anonymous said...

Too bad it wasn't trailer furniture. That stuff is so cheaply made that an axe would've had it in shreds, in the dumpster.
Love the Bergman quote; fear cripples our sense of reality, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Mustang Island? My parents lived in Corpus Christi. Very, very hot.

Anonymous said...

O Cajun Q,
I can't be sepearted from reading you. Wild Horses. Rock on, Foxy Lady

R2 C2!

Anonymous said...

You are a lucky one, Michelle. That counts for much. Good for you. You're also quite talented, don't forget. Keeping on keeping on kicking at the pricks and you will go far, Inner City at heart.

Anonymous said...

Meshelle
in class you spoke of writing rituls, can you lest some please? I still work on pomes but it's hard way going. and more diet tips please? you are perfect I am jealos a little
luv N.