I have plasterers in right now, and I had an electrician in yesterday redoing some sockets. Here’s a poem I wrote. Admittedly it wasn’t me doing the rewiring. But I also ask you - what other task can you make into a poem?Rewiringby Max Wallis

First, you kill the switch.The whole house hums a final shiver then goes quiet.Somewhere, Alexa stops mid-speech.

Second, you pull back plasterunravel another’s intentions:braided wires, logic onlythey knew, tucked into a wall out of sight.Third, you stripand then, naked, strip the wires bare.They curl like worms startled by light.Fourth, you thread together a new lifeclean lines, perhaps, or hurried jambles.Fifth, you hope:you believe in current, in spark,you test the switch.Everything burns like it’s meant to.

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