A New Little Demon

Multifocals, the classic revenge of modern technology
I always look at the keys when typing thus can’t focus
on the screen without jerking my head upright which
means I can see nothing while working, a newspaper
becomes an undulating space, the stairs disappear to
come up and meet my face

Growing seasick doing nothing, the worst is I asked the
optician to choose a frame for me - so mind-bogglingly
ugly, I can’t believe he did this to me, lifting my nose
in the air while looking down like an old spinster librarian
to focus on the screen, the letters threatening to break
into a dance all the time

The margins of my document are faint and skew, can’t
shake my head unless I want my keyboard to become
a concertina, must complete my threatening document
sucking me into a nightmare of brain-malfunctioning –
can’t look outside without turning my whole head parrot-
like, to complete the misery

Hubby worked out I broke the car’s propshaft, listening
to music played too loud I drove the car too hard, he
insisted – I escaped the pain of guilt by buying white
and silver butterflies, putting them up in my room –
and one purple rose which I attached to the fairy wings
adorning my bed, heart broken

I am a useless person, a kind friend sagely declared, I
should be forced to work in a mine or scrub floors –
Cinderella style – that would be ideal for me, I could
softly sing while trying to keep the courage as I scrub
and clean in despair, down on my knees, I could kiss
the floor down there

In abject humility for being so useless, maybe the Lord
will take pity on me and take my life so I can be one more
star in the sky, as Joseph’s brothers so lustily sang to
comfort Jacob, his father, after they sold him into slavery
- though I cannot become one more angel in heaven, I
could be a new little demon

Bringing more fire and problems to hell…