The kitchen floor
The workers who gutted the house didn’t touch the kitchen floor
They pulled up every other one
Except this
Why?
The handyman I thought would come
Never did
So it became our task
First the thick wedges of tile and the layer underneath it
Gave way to more layers – linoleum, and more linoleum, and more tile
Five layers to the subfloor
They kept adding them on, the people who lived here before
Just covered over the old floor
Time after time
Covered over the stains
Covered over the scrapes
Covered over the torn parts
The damage
And every time things could be clean and neat for a while
Every layer on top brought a reprieve, hope, newness
And with each layer the people felt good for a while
(Until they were compelled to do it again)
But what was underneath never changed
Covering it over never changed what was underneath
Dust, dirt, mold, decay, rot
