Modern Sisyphus

Hey hot stuff
I hate you and all that you stand for
But how I am drawn towards you
With a junkie’s wan routine
Cold turkey without narcotic bliss
Just the bitter exasperation and self-loathing
Of an “ex”-smoker who’d quit quitting
After one of ‘those’ days…

But I’ll leave you in darkness awhile
Crush your subjects underfoot
Avoiding the inevitable
Cos’ sooner or later
Deferral is no longer an option
There’re whispers from corners
The dirty pressure mounting
For that searing caress

Then I turn to you reluctantly
As your damp supplicants line the window
Tormented by dilemma
Could we exist without each other?

You’ve got that glint again
Fronting the smooth curves of your body
Pettiest of my slavemasters
Form and structure symbolic
My homeware ball and chain
Can’t return the sentiment
Couldn’t keep you down too long
Our little ritual
Epitome of voluntary conformity
Smoothing through drudgery
Bringing order to chaos
Crafting the presentable public face
In this perpetual occupational cycle

Hot-headed ever-ready
Demanding nothing but an evening
Every week of the year
My body is your company
Whilst my mind drifts elsewhere
Thoughts float, past the blaring television
Through the flex, into the grid
Channelled through infrastructure
To hillsides in Wales
Ascending the valleys
Mastering the peak
There lives the red dragon
Coiled scales, eyes baleful gold
Head turning, dribbling smoke
Breath hot and foetid
Sends the yellowed burn
A momentary lapse in concentration
With shaking hand and yelping curses
Saved by reflex action
Meanwhile you hiss… Hate to be ignored

So I’m inspired
To reveal how much
I hate ironing

The promise of a non-iron shirt
The lying bastards
Vomited from the washer
Rumpled as a hungover toga
A yellow stain
And burnt fingers