A POEM A DAY 2: Have trim will travel
By Almeda Glenn Miller
Other homes have it I’ve seen it in movies and whatnot We speak of it as we swirl our Shiraz in fancy round-bellied glasses I had a friend who cut the birch trees down on an empty lot, milled planks out of it, cured it in stacks for three years, then used it in her house We sip our wine – hints of chocolate or anise beneath the berries She didn’t stain it Left it natural It’s got a kind of amber patina Patina I make note of the word the way it could finish off the line of a poem and then I say it Patina After a few more sips Just to make sure we’re talking about the same thing trim is what covers the gap between the window and the drywall right? Yes she says but she always pretends she knows stuff when she really doesn’t We finish our Shiraz and start in on the Meritage she brought home from wine country last fall By the end of the evening we have crafted other myths such as baseboards kick plates and backsplashes We’ve designed the logo for the van we are going to drive through the streets of our small town loaded with jigs wood and compound miter saws We anticipate immediate success how other women will applaud our courage But alas Have Trim Will Travel is just another story we tell to comfort ourselves while the rest of the world finishes what it started
Almeda Glenn Miller is a Rossland-based writer, performer, and teacher.
