I don’t know why, but I hate biros

the one good thing that came out of my mother’s death
was that I was finally able
to throw her collection
of old biros
in the bin

she kept a mug full of the half-used wretches
on a corner shelf in the kitchen
and when she was slowly dying
occasionally
I’d eye them up

just you wait
I’d whisper
just you wait

and thus
their horrid days were numbered