Paper-thin Walls
I’ve never lived
with wallpaper
but I know paneling
thin veneer laid
over pressboard
formaldehyde and glue
medium fake oak re-
varnished every year
tacky tar washed
away and doors
slammed one room
over. Voices, hushed.
* * *
For a Read Write Poem prompt, which was terrific. I need a little more time with it, but it’s all I got for now. Thanks, Dave.
Find other ideas, here.
No related posts.
I really like that you went with paneling as the narrative wallpaper; it’s so relatable. Everyone’s had to live with paneling and/or thin walls at some point in their life, whether in their childhood home, dorm room, first apartment, etc.
Thanks Shayla, for the visit, and comment!
Deb, that last stanza gets really real! Especially the hushed voices! (Maybe I’m glad I was an only child.)
Hey, Neil. I’m an only, too.
Hi Deb,
“thin veneer” can apply to so many things and panelling of the kind we see over here is the type you want to rip away!
Thanks for reading, Derrick. I appreciate your response. :-)
Egads…Flashbacks of a paneled basement never finished! Loved the slamming doors, 2 sisters, had lots of those!
Ah, sometimes our houses are too quiet, sometimes too noisy. Thanks, Lori, for stopping by and commenting.
Was so fashionable in the 60’s…
I like the cheap, tawdry feeling I experienced while reading this.
(funny how so many of this week’s poems have to do with childhood sadness-mine included!)
Not just fashionable, but structural. That’s how trailers were made, and mostly still are, I suppose.
Like the door slam and hushed voices. Don’t like the veneer.Im
drawn to only children…they have an air of confident solitude about them.When asked if I’d like a brother or sister I always said yes because I suspected that was an acceptable response but secretly
the idea did not appeal to me at all.I really enjoyed being the entire focus of my family’s attention. I feel very sorry for children who grow
up in the shadow of a sibling!
Ha! We’re outing ourselves.
I never liked paneling, either. Esp. having lived it.
I’ve never lived with it either, just paint on the walls and posters/tapestries wherever possible. There’s a deeper meaning suggested by that simple phrase, though: “I know paneling”…the expansion given only heightens my curiosity.
Thanks, Joseph. I think there is more to be written.
Deb nice poem. You can smell the varnish here.
Pamela
Thanks, Pamela.
thin veneer laid…..I really like that…and the rest is very enjoyable also…..thanks for this Deb
Thank you, Wayne!
Deb, this is a keeper. Within its economical structure, it manages the association between the veneered, ‘tacky tar’ of the environment and the life lived within it superbly well. Don’t tamper!
Wow, thank you, Dick. I’ll leave it alone.
i like the brevity of this and how it ends with the doors slamming and then a hush. i can picture a child looking around a room. and then the door slam as punctuation. :)
So glad, Carolee. Thank you. I hate slamming doors, hushed voices.
Great opening, Deb! “This I know…”
And such powerful evocation in the string of words:
thin
veneer
formaldehyde
fake
varnished
tacky
And all that neighboring stuff that can’t help but intrude, making private stuff open to all..
Very strong evocation, Deb. Thanks!
Thanks for the close read, Paul. So much.
The sentence “I know panelling” is so down to earth, and just light enough that the hushed voices really have impact. god, but I hated that sound.
Thanks Barbara — I think you are quite right (although I work intuitively & didn’t plan that out). I hated that sound, too.
Wonderful layers of thumps that bump. There’s a bit of memory, real or imagined, in each of those lines. Nice, oh, nice.
I thought the tackiness of the wall became metaphor for the human story. Nicely done Deb.
I love the spareness, Deb x
Fake paneling and slammed doors give me the willies, too. Loved this short power, calling it.