On Home Appliances

I’ve recently been going through loads of my old notebooks and editing older pieces of writing. This piece was originally written during a workshop with fabulous poet Laurie Bolger, and was inspired by a wonderful poem by American poet Thomas Lux. 

My poem is all about vacuum cleaners, immortality, and biscuit crumbs. Let me know what you think! 


Vacuum Cleaner, 2123
after Thomas Lux 

More kleptocrat than civil servant, 
she devoured tangled hair cobwebs, 

choked down our discarded essence, 
tarnished pennies rattling in her cavernous belly. 

If some archaeologist – one hundred years from now – 
dug through those Dyson dust bags, 

they’d know more about us than any 
supermarket loyalty scheme. GDPR be damned. 

This is one time capsule 
Blue Peter wouldn’t dare bury. 

All broken biscuits & squashed spiders swallowed by the 
swirling suction that never failed to scare the cat. 

If I ever die – which I won’t – you can build my clone 
from the skin particles gathered in the filters 

& figure out what to feed me by 
shifting through the crumbs.


Image via Unsplash.com


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