Poem: Requiem for a Lay-Z-Boy

Requiem for a Lay-Z-Boy

The Lay-Z-Boy chair sits at the curb today

Broken down into two pieces for garbage pick up

Rain falling, man and dog mourning its demise.

It was a relic of his bachelor days

Blue plaid arms spread wide in welcome home,

A throne’s embrace for a working man.

A wife brought children who claimed it for their own

Leaving video game and sleepover detritus

Of cheesy chip crumbs and spilled soda behind.

Still, the man would shrug off the missing arm cover

And crank up the foot rest, snoring on an upholstered island

While family life and a succession of dogs swirled about him.

The children grew and left, the red hound died,

And a new little dog scratched and curled in the chair’s lap.

Gray duct tape levied the foam padding against leaks.

Finally, a spring day, washing pollen off the porch

Wiping down rockers and a little painted table,

Chimes tinkling, cushions airing, the man acquiesced.

He carried the old relic out, replaced it with the porch recliner

Sleek brown with plastic arms, a foot rest. No embrace,

But still, the patient understudy, waiting to serve.

That night, the little dog whined. The man took him out,

Considered bringing the chair back inside but a steady rain

Drenched it. He drove to work in the gray, depressed.

The Lay-Z-Boy chair sits at the curb today

Broken down into two pieces for garbage pick up

Rain falling, man and dog mourning its demise.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          by Cindy Brookshire 

                                                            2020