Your kitchen –

Beneath nicotine-stained walls tea grouts clog an enamel sink

broken lino reveals

a collage of newspaper beneath the fat of copha spit glue

A week of dishes sit

soaking in a red plastic bowl

precious drink glasses lightly rinsed stand upside down draining

Beer bottles in proud salute

nestle near the pedal bin

hidden in the cupboard - brandy bottles grow like fungi in the darkness

every surface full to bursting with a hoarder’s second-hand stuff

and you standing in the doorway glass in hand – smiling sly - defiant

ready to rage against

your daughter’s rebuke.