Rachael Mead #18, The perfect customer

The perfect customer

I don’t know what it’s called

and I can’t remember who wrote it

but it was in your window a few months ago

- I think it had a dark cover -

and I’d forgotten all about it

but then last week I heard this guy on the radio

- it was probably Radio National -

and he was talking about a book

that looked at the life of this really interesting woman

from the 18^th or 19^th century

with a totally unpronounceable name,

I think she was Russian or maybe Eastern European

and I thought “that’s it – that’s the book!”

So, do you still have it?

I set off on the hunt

and by the time I’m resorting to Google

she’s wandered off to General Fiction

but then

as she reaches to pluck

a Siri Hustvedt from the shelf

I see the I am, I am, I am. brag of Plath’s heart

tattooed along the pale stretch of her wrist

and in an instant

everything

is forgiven.