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A Console Table

after a Google entry

A console table in the entryway
__Provides a focus for a guest
Inside your home: a welcome, you might say.

A strong impression’s vital to convey,
__And for this purpose I suggest
A console table in the entryway.

Style mixed with function makes the best entrée;
__You’ll see the smartest guests impressed
Inside your home: a welcome, you might say,

With mirrors, lamps, and photos.  It’s OK
__If space is limited: just nest
A console table in the entryway.

A nervous guest could kneel at it and pray;
__A weary guest could lean and rest
Inside your home: a welcome, you might say,

If strength is limited.  Some guest some day
__May thank kind stars that you possessed
A console table in the entryway
Inside your home.  A welcome, you might say.

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Julia Griffin lives in southeast Georgia most of the time.  She has been published in a number of online poetry magazines, including Light, Lighten Up Online, The Ekphrastic Review, and Classical Outlook. She teaches in the English Department at Georgia Southern University.

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12 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    There is nothing like a grand first impression! Guests may admire mine with a marble desk set containing a bust of Venus, but I doubt if anyone would stop to pray. This is an excellent treatment of an unusual object and subject with a rolling rhythm and a fun rhyme scheme including the ending to the second line in each of the verses!

    Reply
  2. jd

    I could see a welcome guest kneeling at the console table to pray. Maybe not today, but someday. A very clever “tongue in cheek” villanelle. A good subject for the form too.

    Reply
    • Julia B Griffin

      Thank you! I’ve always found the phrase “console table” so evocative …

      Reply
  3. Jeremiah Johnson

    Julia, Your villanelle overcomes the great challenge which faces this form of poetry – it never feels needlessly repetitive! A lovely little piece. I particularly like the notion of a console as a place of brief spiritual devotion.

    Reply
    • Julia B Griffin

      Thank you so much! I do like the photo the editor found …

      Reply
  4. Paul Freeman

    What a great piece, Julia. I read it in my best plumby antiques seller’s voice.

    Thanks for an endearing read.

    Reply
    • Julia B Griffin

      Oh, please record it! I originally had an epigraph from Google. It goes like this:
      A console table in the entryway provides a strong focal point and first impression for guests entering your home. The best decorated console tables mix style and function. A mirror, lamp and family photos (above) provide the perfect spot to welcome guests. … Space in the entryway is often limited.

      entry in Google under “What is a console table for?” (Ellipsis original)

      Reply
  5. Shamik Banerjee

    I am impressed with the concept: a multi-purpose table. The phrasing is flawless and the rhymes flow beautifully. It was a joy to read your poem, Julia. Thank you so much for sharing it.

    Reply
  6. C.B. Anderson

    Nice work, Julia. As you may have gathered, villanelles go over rather well at this site. It’s obvious that your skiils in versification come from long practice.
    I own no tables such as this, and now I am having second thoughts.

    Reply
    • Julia B Griffin

      Thank you! All the tables I have are covered in receipts, old shopping lists, unopened bills, etc. I would like one that somehow repelled anything unartistic …

      Reply

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