My Tuesday Drawer

When I was writing for Christian Focus Publications, I sometimes had hundreds of sheets of printed interviews lying in my study. That was especially true when working on books about the Preshal Trust which included the stories of, perhaps, twenty people within the wider story of the work of the Trust. My study might have looked a mess but it took time to work out where each story fitted into the book.

It was the same – only much more colourful – over the 20 and more years I edited The Instructor, the Free Church’s magazine for children. The double page spreads were laid out over the surfaces in my study until I decided what went where.

Well, those days are past and I have little excuse for having an untidy study. But the poem that follows tells the truth of it.

Tuesday drawer

Where would I be without my cleaner?

She makes up for my deficiencies

as a housewife,

working wonders

while we go for a walk each Tuesday.

We always go out

for fear of being sucked

into the vacuum cleaner

or buffed to a shine.

She’s impressed by my tidy study

and often says so.

I smile …

and think of my Tuesday drawer.

It lies empty six days a week.

On the seventh I sweep everything

off my desk, my table and the floor

into my Tuesday drawer

only to take it out again

when we return from our walk.

Don’t tell her.

Written for the Scottish Fellowship of Christian Writers and used by kind permission.