Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
I miss your low drone,
your no-nonsense, business-like growl
Ready to pounce on quarry under the couch
or stick your slanted mouth in to seize
prey huddling in their crevices,
the web they weave in high places.
A wedding gift that the marriage outlasted
you soon lost your breath.
Age takes its toll, the game less tempting,
you coughed and sputtered in protest,
wheels dragging.
You even shocked us once–
and we finally got the message
you had swelled up and emptied
once too often, maybe.
The world has gone bagless since.
Robots scour your hunting grounds now,
solo and unmanned, ignoring corners,
getting snagged on rugs,
infuriating cats
In the end, consistency matters
That steady routine every weekend
when we worked in tandem as a team
to rid our tiny world of our tiny mess.
Your box sits empty in the storeroom.
The snap of your power-cord no more,
your efficient hum a distant echo
leaving a vacuum in our hearts
that no other sucker
will ever fill.
First published in Red Room Poetry, Australia.
