Silence versus politics

This morning
I performed a pedicure upon myself

sitting with my feet in the bath
watching the rain
there was nobody to talk to

As you soak
and then remove the cuticles around the toenails
with an orange stick
file rough skin
it's natural ............
you will undergo the inevitable solitary thought

Which could be about anything really
doors left unopened
machinery jammed
opinions discounted
and conquests well and truly damned

It is for this reason I sometimes
book an appointment for a pedicure in town
and hire a towelling gown
at a place with a vibrating footspa and peach-magnolia walls
and Coffee Mate

When it's Becky we talk about psychic phenomena
if it's Rachel we will be thinking about our holidays
and the way when men who might be otherwise considerate
cook a meal
they don't wash up

Sometimes we've strayed unwisely onto politics
fox hunting
immigrants
the national health

and then I wish I had stayed at home and done it for myself.