Nell Farrell
Hoovering the Sculpture
I heard him clanking down the passage with it
slightly pissed, banging it against the wall
with every other step.
He put it in the corner of the living room
a departure, he said, from his paintings,
an experiment in captured space.
I put the kettle on and wondered
whose words he was bringing home this time.
That skinny art student probably.
The first time I hoovered round it
it snagged my tights and actually drew blood.
I wondered about tetanus.
Hoovering, you know, you get up close.
I take the brush off to get in between
its spikey metal arches, like jawbones
with the teeth pulled, only the indentations
left to trap the dust and fluff.
One time the cat was sick on it.
My sentiments exactly I said and scraped away
with a knife to no avail. Only the hoover
applied directly to the tiny hollows, beginning
ever so slightly to rust, really got the bits out.
On his birthday a card came and when he opened it
a shower of glitter exploded on the carpet.
He smiled, a quick one he thought I wouldn't catch,
then explained it was from college.
Put it in his pocket though, not on the mantelpiece.
I found it when I took his jacket to the cleaners.
"For the shimmering happiness you give me"
she had written.
The next time the cat's sick on it
I won't bother. He'll never notice.
He doesn't hoover.
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