Meltdown. A new kettle urgently <br />required for the gas stove. Men <br />love an excuse to wander around <br />the Aladdin’s cave of an ironmongers <br />the older the better. <br /> <br />Shock-horror. Rattly, thin as <br />they can get away with, and outrageously, <br />the same price as technology’s <br />masterpieces of electric jug… <br />long gone, the solid kettle which sits <br />so friendly on the hob of open fire… <br /> <br />So it’s off to the Oxfam thriftshop. <br />a short prayer to the goddess <br />of the hearth (Hestia, in case <br />you wonder, poetically) – and lo <br />and behold, abracadabra, hey presto – <br /> <br />a Designer Kettle in all its glory – <br />solid, shining, copper-flashed-bottom, <br />two-note whistle in two-tone brass, <br />chromium-bright finish, ingenious <br />spout-opener, handle in clever cool plastic, the whole <br />a vision, part Futurist image fit for a painting, <br />part evoking a Mussolini-era steel helmet, and <br />a theft at the price. <br /> <br />The two-tone whistle packed up the first week <br />despite prodding and poking its gleaming brass; <br />the spout-lifter burned the fingers – I had <br />to grow a long thumbnail to survive; <br />the gleaming surface scratched when cleaned; <br />the copper bottom crumbled off; <br />the short spout made filling a teapot <br />dangerous on two counts: the steam, and <br />the aim, endangering the hands. <br /> <br />Was it designed by a woman <br />or a man? You’ve guessed it. Who’s <br />the more practical? <br /> <br />The debatable poetic conclusion <br />of this poet: men go for <br />form; women go for content.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0285-a-pretty-kettle-of-wish/
