Family as Furniture Down Under *

Assorted furniture is strewn around

Our lives, our parents, uncles, cousins, aunts

And siblings, sisters and half-sisters found

(Along with those adopted) like the plants

In pots among the brothers in our rooms.

We take this all for granted.  Couches, chairs

And tables simply wait.  Our life subsumes

Them into scenery so their affairs

Are not worth noticing; some pieces are

More special, some uncomfortable, but so

What?  Furniture they are, a practice bar

For feet in dancing slippers, not the show.

  The sofas are fake Duncan Phyfe, too fine,

    Too much like princes speaking Redfern Strine.

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* Besides “Strine” meaning the Australian language being spoken with a broad Australian accent, the word “strine” also means “sofa” in the slang of Strine.

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                                                                                 ⇑  Phillip Whidden