This poem was inspired by a conversation that me and Katie Haigh had recently in which she likened herself to wallpaper and said that she wished she was more like me. I, on the other hand, wish I was more like her. It got me thinking about how we always wish we were more like our friends and less like ourselves.

 

You Are Wallpaper (From Laura Ashley)

 

I rubber ball bounce, like you said, into rooms

Flitting between faces and filling all four corners

With whatever it is that I actually am

My loudness, my brashness

My histrionic amdramness

My superficial grin flashing whitened teeth

Saturation point reached

Me, me, me, me, me

 

With a grace and light touch

That trickles rather than spills

You do, like you said, wallpaper the room

Exquisite textures reflecting inwards

Tactile patterns shooting for the ceiling

They warm to your hues

They reach out for you

They want to know you

They want to know you

 

I just swarm you

Termiting your supports

A Marabunta raid biting away

Charming then destroying all in my path

I’m a fleeting, sweeping spectacle

Leaving nothing behind me

But an artificial aftertaste and raven black

Your colours leave a stain

Louder than you’d ever dare to speak

Bolder than you’d ever dare to be

While you paper over the breaks in me