morning glory

In the morning she puts her face back on.
She washes discreetly in the bathroom, whilst I pull myself from bed, and by the time I¡¯ve made it to the kitchen to get some tea on, she is sitting upright in the corner of our old sofa with its saggy cushions, her legs twisted underneath her, back straight, bag of makeup and various tubes, powders, eyeliners, lipsticks, gloss¡¯s, pencils, brushes; glimmering like treasure, like dragons hoard in the morning sun, as I boil the kettle.
Her face is coming together, like a jigsaw puzzle, with the lines between the pieces all but invisible, smoothed over with creamy dusty artificial skin. Dead skin, powder, cleanliness. Her eyes are growing, and the thin black petals of her eyelids are strengthened with a viscous tar-like liquid, secreted in a delicate tube, like a thousand exclamation marks around the eye itself, with a few flecks of black pollen blown onto her smooth cheeks. Her lips have grown and become vibrant with pink paint. I wish to take it all off, the whole mask, gently place my hands on her face, and pull it away, maybe hang it out on the clothes line to soak up a little sun, or put it back in its pouches and tubes, with their brushes and bristles.
But she is done. Legs untuck, hair pulled back into a stubby little ponytail, she shimmers over, taking her tea in both hands and grimacing as she takes a sip, too hot!
The front door opens, and down the steps into the garden she goes, camera swinging by its strap from her wrist. My cats miaow around her ankles, and roll on their backs in the grass, she giggles and crouches down to snap away with her gadget, then as I step inside, into the shadow, still watching, she walks up the road, with a little skip, camera still swinging back and forth, she disappears from my sight.
I turn my back, and fill the sink with hot water, washing up liquid. Wipe the kitchen table, push a broom around the floor, hang my coat which I had left on the sofa back behind the bathroom door, and turn on some music, singing as I scrub the detritus of last nights romance, elbow deep in glossy rainbow hued bubbles and tupperware..