Poon Tang Dynasty

My entire world has turned upside down.  First, this happened:

Maybe Facebook Stands a Chance Afterall

Maybe Facebook Stands a Chance After All

Gwen has more friends than Magillicutty already.  I tell ya, that bitch is inconsolable.  Maggie just sits in the corner sobbing while she takes all the little wire tops off the countless magnums of champagne she’s consumed and bends them into tiny little tiaras while chanting, “I’m a pretty, pretty princess.”

Then last night, my dear sweet husband shattered one of my most treasured possessions – my Poon Tang Vase (as in a ceramic vase from the Poon Tang Dynasty – duh).  I’ve had that vase longer than I’ve had a husband, damnit.

Let’s take a moment to revel in the glory of such a fine perfect specimen of artistry:

My Lovely Poon Tang

My Lovely Poon Tang

Peacocks and Everything!

Peacocks and Everything!

The Decal Seam

The Decal Seam

Don’t let that pre-fab, Dollar Store sheen fool you.  That majestic work was one of a kind and irreplaceable.

“Oh Elly, won’t you tell us how you came to possess such a culturally significant piece of history?”

I’m so glad you asked!  We’d just moved into an apartment a mere two blocks away from Gwen in Washington Heights.  We’d already cleaned out all the crack vials, repaired most of the broken doors and I was tackling the painting.  I had no idea how drastically my life would change that day.

Gwen called from the post office.  “I’m coming over.  You have to see this.”

“Um, ok.  See what?”

“My Aunt Larry sent me a…well…you just have to see it.”

I watched my cats bat around a dead mouse while I shoved more steel wool around the radiator pipes and waited for her arrival.  Panting slightly, she arrived carrying the most fantastically hideous creation I’ve ever laid eyes on.  She sat the high gloss urn on the table and turned to me with her victorious mmmhmmm-what-did-I-tell-your-unbelieving-ass eyebrows in full effect.

“It’s….” I began.

“Terrifying, right?” Gwen interrupted, nodding vigorously.

“…absolute perfection,” I sighed to complete the sentence.

Awed, I stepped closer to my newest obsession and ran my fingers over the bubbling faux-gold leaf that had clearly been machine applied a solid half inch off its mark.  “Your Uncle Laura must really love you.  Where are you going to put it?  You should totally paint a wall this color orange to highlight the peacocks.  Man, I wonder where she…um…he?…um…found it.  I bet this thing cost her at least four hundred bazillion dollars and a kidney.  How was she able to part with it?”

Still shaking my head in wonder, I turned to look at Gwen.  She was staring right back at me with a look of horror frozen beneath her mmmhmmm-what-did-I-tell-your-unbelieving-ass eyebrows.  Her jaw was so close to the floor I worried the cats would accidentally knock the dead mouse into her gaping maw.  “What?  Is it the dead mouse?  It was a case of justifiable cat slaughter.  It serves the little bastard right for coming in here uninvited.  I’m not touching that thing.  Rocco can pick it up when he gets home.”

She continued to stare in silence and wide-eyed horror.  “Um, Gwen, Honey?” I asked while gently nudging her.

To my relief, Gwen started blinking again.  “Where’s the punch line?”

“Hmmm?” I responded absentmindedly as I considered licking the rim of the perfect ceramic creation.

“You genuinely like it,” Gwen stated flatly.

“What’s not to like?” I responded, incredulous.  “You really don’t like it?”  It’s unpretentious, tacky, and gloriously kitschy.  It makes me think of bad Christmas decorations and Bedazzlers.  It’s like some machine in China painted happiness directly on this perfect mass-produced vessel.  Like?  Hell – what’s not to love?”

“You don’t think it’s a little over the top?”

“Impossible – there’s no glitter.”

That one stumped her briefly, then something clicked and she finally released her mmmhmmm-what-did-I-tell-your-unbelieving-ass eyebrows and they slowly slid back to their normal positions.

“It’s yours,” she said with no trace of sarcasm.

It was my turn to drop my jaw on the floor, narrowly missing the battered carcass of Mickey.  “Don’t toy with my emotions.”

“I’m not.  It’s yours.  Now I don’t have to carry it the rest of the way home!”

“hooRAY!!!  You can come visit her anytime.  I’ll take splendid care of her.  Say, what Dynasty do you think she is from?”

But now she is gone.  Rocco killed her.  I’ve written her a limerick to celebrate all that she was to me.

Oh my dearest Poon Tang Vase
You can never be replaced.
For should I dare try,
My husband would cry
And might even punch my face.

Ok he wouldn’t really punch me in my face, but he never liked you much, Poon Tang.  I think that’s why he killed you.  So long, my dearest Poon Tang.

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