Vik Shirley

I fell in love with a Braun electric shaver 

I know what you're thinking
and, sure, I'm married.
But you didn't see the way
this shaver was looking at me.
The way it would hum longingly,
whilst gliding over my husband's face.
Always vibrating — it seemed to me —
in my direction.
Made me feel kind of special.
And this little guy was a Series 7,
so unbelievably smart;
the way they interpret the beard
and adapt to a man's face.
I didn't believe that was possible.
Once you see a thing like that in action,
you can't exactly unsee it, if you know what I mean.
And once I discovered that it shared my love
of French cinema, there was no turning back.

Vik Shirley is a poet from Bristol. Her poems have appeared in Queen Mob's Teahouse, Zarf Poetry, Stride Magazine, Shearsman Magazine and in the Dostoevsky Wannabe Cities: Bristol pamphlet. A poem of hers was commended in the Verve Poetry Competition 2018 and published in the associated city poems anthology, It All Radiates Outwards. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Her website is vikshirley.com and she tweets @VikShirley