(Warning, this slice includes an expletive.)
I’ve run out of ways to express the metaphors
for the things I can’t tell you
But
Someone spilled chocolate ice cream on the tablecloth yesterday
The tablecloths is one of those pretty ones from Home Goods
It has birds and flowers, lavender and periwinkle and the perfect spring green
And now it has a splotch of chocolate ice cream
I’m writing this while staring at that splotch
Listen, it was an accident
An overzealous lover of vegan ice cream tipped a little out of his bowl
And I think that it will wash out with a little bit of the right detergent
I mean, it might not be exactly stain-free, but it would be splotch free
It would be good, the stain would tell a story like tablecloth stains do
That splotch doesn’t have to stay there, rotting the tablecloth
But first I’d have to stop writing
Clear the table
And decide to put the tablecloth
in the f#$%^N washing machine
I’ve run out of ways to express the metaphors
for the things I can’t tell you
But I’m still writing
On a Thought 
UGH – ice cream on a pretty tablecloth deserves an expletive. Hope the f*&^ing stain comes out!
Sometimes you just have to use the expletive! Hope the tablecloth washes well.
I love the transition to the “would be’s” in the middle and then onward to the “but first…” and the expletive really brings it home. It “would be” if it were more important than what is, and you make that quite clear.
Sometimes you just need to swear. I get it! Thanks for sharing.
There is so much to f^ck!ng love about this poem. And your beginning and end – “I’ve run out of ways to express the metaphors / for the things I can’t tell you / But…” You GOT me with those lines. This reminds me of a poem I wrote in college about a table cloth that I had to clean as well – let’s just say I was angry at one of my SUPER sloppy roommates at the time. Come to think of it, I may have to dig that one up…
There are times when only one word will do, and I completely understand not wanting to think of a metaphor or simile or anything else. TOTALLY appreciated the build up, even knowing that there was going to be rage coming!
I love how you introduce the dilemma, work your way through your feelings, and then let out the f-bomb. A perfect piece.
Also, I think you can blame the pandemic for some of your irritation. Almost everyone I know, including myself, is feeling angry or annoyed at things not even as important as an ice cream blotch on a pretty tablecloth, and we’re attributing it to displaced anger at the pandemic.
Little things can make us so happy but little things can really drive us crazy. A splotch is just a little thing but can become a metaphor of life. Get bleach. Make the world bright again.
This was definitely one of those times that needed the expletive!
I love how you’re able to make the reader feel your emotions with you. Thank you for continuing to be vulnerable in your slices.