My Mother has wallpapered the refrigerator,
its rounded body now sports huge orange flowers
like some oversized woman who should not wear spandex
flaunting her curves, unashamed that she holds within her
the entire week’s groceries.
Mom, who says she would rather
wallpaper a radiator than paint one,
has wallpapered the dryer (also in the kitchen)
in the same pattern, carefully sealing each edge
with a thick creamy paste to safeguard against heat.
They are a matched set in their play clothes,
Mrs. Fridge coolly dispensing milk and butter and
Mr. Dryer, his insides quietly churning moist heat,
like an old married couple thrown together by chance,
fated to live out their days in a room whose floor
has also been wallpapered in orange by my Mother.
~Andrine de la Rocha
12/12/12