Essex Fades the Sherry Sofa

Whispered blown dust
as if displaced voices
an empty room
flung by shined toecap

uncorked after a century
a vintage sherried sofa
orange light sepias it
the walls squint

chattering paintings fall silent
arguments over with
war and wedlock
the loved and the loveless

packed in a van
all headed for Essex
and the horror of meat pies
and dropped vowels