Day Seventy-eight

Today's words:

Verb

Parlor

Decorator

Garlic

Stone

Baby

"To worry" is a verb,

And that's what I was doing as I stood in the parlor

With this supposed "interior decorator"

A friend had suggested.  His breath reeked of garlic

And his heart seemed made of stone,

But his baby-

Smooth face suggested cosmetic surgery. "Baby,"

He'd said to me, "I don't just decorate. I prefer a stronger verb,

"Like inspire." I was feeling as inspired as a stone

As I stood in the parlor

Listening to the garlic-

Scented ravings of this decorator.

I hadn't even wanted to hire a decorator,

But after I lost the baby,

Friends thought it would cheer me up. But now the smell of garlic

Was making me ill. I think "to nauseate" would be the correct verb.

Now he's suggesting we paint the parlor

"The color of a lovely volcanic stone,"

Whatever that means. Still, I was feeling less like a stone.

At least I'll give this decorator

That. His nuttiness as he discussed his ideas for my parlor

Made me feel something I hadn't felt since losing the baby.

In fact I hadn't really felt anything since then. I don't know what verb

Could be used to describe it, and despite his garlic-

Infused breath I was suddenly hungry. I used to love to cook with garlic,

But since then everything had tasted like stone. 

Was "to grieve" the correct verb

To explain what I'd been doing? If so, perhaps this decorator

Had jostled me out of the grief I'd been carrying since the baby

Died. And the miscarriage had started right in this parlor,

Which is why I'd thought to redo the parlor

In the first place. The garlic

Odor had dissipated some. "Baby,"

He said, turning towards me, "Not even a stone

"Could be unmoved by this. Remember, I'm not a decorator -
"I inspire!" But I had another verb

In mind, yet I agreed to paint my parlor a stone

Color and went along with the garlic-scented decorator,

If only to get my mind off the baby and go back to being an active verb.