Foyer Trap
VIRGINIA BURNS FEINE
“People . . . don’t like ... to come directly from outdoors into the living room. They want some sort of separation, even if it is only a psychological separation, so that someone coming in out of the rain doesn’t step right on the living room carpet.”
—House and Home
WE HAVE here a concept quizzical, the modern metaphysical
And four-dimensional foyer, where we trap our friends and fears;
A hypnotized hiatus, wherein those who love or hate us
Stand transfixed as flies in amber while they dry their feet and tears.
By a fixed hallucination we achieve dissociation
From the puppy or the little boy (who really are not there);
Not quite daring strict expulsion we project our strong compulsion,
Crying silently, “The carpet —oh, the carpet — do take care!”
There’s no ave and no vale in this totally blind alley,
This claustrophobic symbol of an insubstantial hall;
And the horrid sublimation may attain the reputation
And dubious distinction of “most-lived-in-room-of-all.”
And four-dimensional foyer, where we trap our friends and fears;
A hypnotized hiatus, wherein those who love or hate us
Stand transfixed as flies in amber while they dry their feet and tears.
By a fixed hallucination we achieve dissociation
From the puppy or the little boy (who really are not there);
Not quite daring strict expulsion we project our strong compulsion,
Crying silently, “The carpet —oh, the carpet — do take care!”
There’s no ave and no vale in this totally blind alley,
This claustrophobic symbol of an insubstantial hall;
And the horrid sublimation may attain the reputation
And dubious distinction of “most-lived-in-room-of-all.”