she had absolutely no taste in furniture

as boys

we chose what we wanted

to be

by how we played.

cops

and robbers,

cowboys and Indians,

space men.

rarely were we chefs,

or politicians.

we were baseball players,

football

and basketball players,

aspiring athletes

heading for the hall of fame.

we were soldiers

and sailors.

rarely artists or 

interior decorators,

although

i do remember crying

when my mother bought

a couch

fit for Mt. Vernon,

flowered and overstuffed,

instead of

the streamlined

aqua blue one,

mid-century modern,

the one i picked out.