PREVIOUS TENANTS
The Renovation Will Not Be Televised
The renovation will not be televised
You will not be able to recognize your home, brother
The renovation will not grace the stucco with sophistication
Will not put a pot of tea on the ledge
The renovation will not be brought to you by Home Depot,
Home Hardware (homeowners helping homeowners) or Lowe’s
The renovation will not be televised
The renovation will not look elsewhere
The renovation will not be a gateway drug to the
meat market world
The renovation will rip up your hardwood floors
and make your mother to call
to see how you’re handling the stress
The renovation will not be televised
The renovation will require you to make the loan
The renovation will require you, brother, to fret the fate
of the nuclear famine
There will be no failed attempts during the renovation
The renovation will cause Paul Vermeersch to point out
you’re a decent poet but have terrible taste in lawn furniture
The renovation will not televised
There will be no visits to your Vancouver Special by
Leon Rooke, by Margaret Atwood or John Metcalf.
There will be no sneering over the flat wood, veneer
The sunset will not stir your cocktail
The renovation will replace chintzy figurines of
Rob Ford billy-clubbing librarians into the back of a
paddy wagon with chintzy figurines of cats wearing tuxedos
The renovation will not leave you gawping for help
by the dumpsters behind Wholefoods
because the renovation will not be televised, brother
Forget about the plan to become a better forest
or your thoughts of drinking Champagne
or Chardonnay or whatever gah
Prepare yourself to sand the ceiling down
to learn that permanence is a boondoggle
The renovation will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised
There will be no renovations to the renovation, my brothers
The renovation will be live