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Mustard and Teals

Oh, I don’t know,

Mustard and teal was never my thing,

                                                                             Until she brought the ivy in                                      

And placed it on the hall table and said,

We’ve arrived.

The branches of oak outside

Filled the foyer window as we peeled the paper

From the walls.

Layer and layer,

Peel by peel,

Until, we arrived, as she said,

Clinging to the lath and plaster

The last and original

Shred of

Yesteryear

In mustard and teal green.

It has to go, I said.

I know, she said.

But wait, and with watercolor and brush

Dug from the sewing room box

She reproduced it on the back

Of a housewarming greeting card

In Yellow Ochre and Vermillion Green

As I peeled the mite soaked paper

To its demise.

When all was done

She snapped a photo of our shaker style hallway

Fit for a contemporary architectural digest

Framed it with the wallpaper watercolor

Hung it on the wall

Near the window with the oak branches peering

Through the window of the hall watching,

The ivy on the entry table,

Sitting

That said,

They’ve arrived.

Deborah T. Johnson

December 2022