I had a better relationship with my printer than with my ex-husband

The poet and artist Frieda Hughes looks back on some of her longest relationships to note how not all of the important ones are human

Death of a Desktop Printer

A multi-tasker from too long ago to remember

It printed out my efforts at genius,

Scanned my artwork and dog photographs,

Faxed my friends and telephoned my lovers.

It had a better relationship with me

Than my ex-husband ever did; it performed

And we understood each other.

When the telephone facility malfunctioned

I shrugged and quietly moved onto a mobile.

And when its fax ability failed, I decided

I’d never send another fax again.

When the inkjets clogged beyond cleaning

And the paper sheets came out as white and unsullied

As they were fed in, I printed elsewhere,

But the scanner kept on going. Until today,

When its grinding internals gave birth

To a dissection of images from its ageing confusion,

And I laid it gently to rest in a recycling skip

Among the dead toasters, electric lawnmowers, hairdryers,

And all the other relationships I’ve had to replace.