Ode to the vintage teacup rescued from goodwill
Salma Hussain
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a middle-aged woman not in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of one more floral teacup.Fine bone china.Made in England.
Image Credit: Francesca Taiganides
Well good day, Ms. Thang.
How do you do.
Fancy seeing you here.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a middle-aged woman not in possession of a good
fortune, must be in want of one more floral teacup.
Fine bone china.
Made in England.
This one makes for a set of six mismatched teacups in varying shades of pastel with delicate gold
embellishments, so that I may now invite the ladies over for chai and samosas.
Asha Bhosle Lata Mageshkar Mohammed Rafi to play in the background of course.
Now whatever was that Kipling buk-buking about?
Never the twain shall meet, was it?
Arrey, but twain-ing is how we survived.
Superficially we’ll gupshup about
our children
our husbands
our mother-in-laws
the newest must-have shades for the kitchen cabinets.
Subtextually we’ll braid in a tidy little chitchat
about the one percent
trade embargos
election rigging
astroturfing
and wolves in sheep’s clothing
won’t we.
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Author's Note
This piece was drafted in a workshop taught by Mexican-American poet, Jose Hernandez Diaz (@josehernandezdz). The four-week generative workshop consisted of close readings in prose poetry by established masters. Once a week, I shared in animated discussions regarding craft, inspiration and aesthetics with eleven other dedicated students. The prompt for this piece was to write an ode for an ordinary household object. I wanted to create something that mirrored Diaz's own poetry, which is usually surreal and almost always subversive.
After the class was over, I stashed this piece in a digital folder and pulled it out to submit for Glut's inaugural issue. I felt this playful, irreverent piece would be a good fit for the tastes at Glut. Happily, I received an email from the editors saying as much and also inquiring whether I'd be open to reformatting it more in the vein of a free verse poem as this would "help the reader sip your story slowly." I loved this suggestion! I gave it a go and luckily it was accepted in its new format.
The joyful tone running throughout this piece is something I like to bring to all my writing, and that’s because I believe cheeky humour is our most subversive and revolutionary weapon.
Salma Hussain
Salma Hussain writes poetry and prose. Her writing has recently appeared in The Fiddlehead, The Humber Literary Review, Prism International, The Hong Kong Review, The Ex-Puritan, and Pleiades: Literature in Context. Her young adult novel, The Secret Diary to Mona Hasan was written in homage to the British classic, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, 13 3/4 and is about a young girl's immigration and menstruation journey. You can find her on Instagram @salma_h_writes.
