This post first appeared in https://www.geelongwriters.org.au/ekphrastic-challenge-8-2026/
Electric hot water rules ignored –
In town our bookkeeper liked to bathe early.
Leaving home at a curse, You ignorant beast.
You are just like your father. You could have left some hot.
Eau de cologne neroli follow the body,
Hair trimmed – soaked in California Poppy,
Expectant the maid at the telephone exchange
Will remember a dance last week.
In addition – Elsewhere
The chip heater in the bathroom
Choked the air warming the dribble
Pooling at the plug.
Before their common family lave, a query. Can I soak first tonight?
Their forlorn hope rejected outright.
The rarity of outback hygiene later disclosed to all
At the Theatre Royal’s John Wayne western
Everyone on tank water knew
A dangerously dry summer
Prompted the idiom,
Just wash your pits and naughty bits.
Cough! cough!
Marc Anthony and Cleopatra seized their cape diem
And bathed in milk
Proving, the lodgers of the Roman villa
Enjoyed sophistication unknown in the ‘50s
Until Henry Bolte
That plain speaking raconteur had us believe
Gas would keep us warm and clean for centuries
Bass Strait liquified petroleum transported to suburbs
Towns and councils across the State would run forever.
In future all persons
Would shower until spotless
In 65 degree gas-heated water
And baths would become redundant outdoor gear.
Nay.
Contemporary
Volume builders of sprawling clay boxes
Had designers reconfigure things,
Exclude gas, and bring back baths
As decorative ornaments, when
“AI” drank our water.
Inshore Cassandra 