Agoloso Presents - Atondido Stories Agoloso Presents - Mama Mada | Page 216

Mama Mada
Earplugs
by Stuart Mck enzie
Some mornings I wake up, find them
pressed into my hair, dangling
like two small clumps of snow
on the ears of a cocker spaniel.
I’d like to ask him upstairs
as he enters his flat,
to p lease sw itch o ff yo ur gristly co ugh
and mute your feet.
I know silence,
I held it in my hands once:
a one-sided 7” single – so blasphemous
the plant refused to press it.
In place of the song – two minutes of nothing.
I smoothed my fingers across
the empty black grooves,
to the run off – I knew
from beginning to end
would lead nowhere.
Dear neighbour, this evening
I remove you from my playlist.
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