The Rural Voice, 2002-05, Page 431
basin and pitcher to lend charm to its
water stained surface, or even hide a
chamber pot behind its door. Or
perhaps it will go to my workroom in
the basement where i grow seedlings
and geranium cuttings, to house my
seeds and pots. Somehow that seems
more fitting. The poem Cosmetics
expresses my feelings about the
washstand, and integrates the
enthusiasms of my life; family
history, rural beginnings, poetry, and
gardening.0
Cosmetics
I survey the ugliness,
dubious of redemption for cracker/
skin,
chipboard brace on splintered
back.
I baptize with paint reprover,
scrape and endlessly,
dislodge layers of wrinkled
varnish,
unearth white paint on wood -grain
finish,
lay bare a water -blackened face
shrunken with age and elements.
Once a hundred years ago
she stood proudly in some boudoir
hugging a flowered basin to her
boson,
.swallowing a secret chamber pot.
Forty years later, damaged goods,
banished to clasp drinking pail and
dipper,
back kitchen matron, household
drudge
tools in her belly, cow papers in
her drawer.
Now I reclaim her, smooth out
wrinkles,
execute cosmetic repair,
brush on gold, add a little shine,
trying to fashion a silk purse from
a sow's ear,
when plastic surgery is really what
she needs
or perhaps reincarnation.
She never will regain her former
stature.
To return her to the bedroom.
seenis somehow unbecoming,
so she holds my flower pots and
seeds gratefully
and reminds pre of my country
roots.
'0ourao '
Marvin L. Smith
B Sc. F. (Forestry). R P F
Farm Woodland Specialist
570 Riverview Dr.
Listowel, Ontario N4W 3T7
Telephone: (519) 291-2236
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MAY 2002 39