MARL GREY JUMPER

by Stuti Sinha


…And I want to dress every day in this boyfriend-style marl grey and white striped jumper.

i.

Your eyes widen as you walk in my direction/ I am taken by that/ unprepared to stun you in something so casual/ Your expression followed by intimately whispered affection gives me a tingle deep in my belly/ the ‘happy accident’ kind of tingle/ the small sprinkles of euphoria are big winners kind of tingle/

Like sitting on the office desk of a swanky young office/ in an unpretentious slouchy jumper/ jeans/ and white trainers/ legs swinging mid-air/ enjoying the misplaced quietness of that environment/ I take a small sip/ into the silken foam of a warm cappuccino/

ii.

In a few minutes/ this silence will crescendo to/ a business hustle-bustle/ the incessant ringing of multiple telephones/ voices talking in loud pitch/ over other voices/ the smell of cartridges printing/ (wet ink on paper)/ doors swinging into //repeating// open & close motions/ the receptionist’s dull voice clinically receiving calls on the board line/ (in practiced politeness)/ more coffee/ pouring from a dispensing machine into countless mugs/

Cold conditioned air/ coated with the smell of fresh paint/ there is always the smell of fresh paint/ in a paint manufacturing office/ like there is the smell of freshly baked bread at a bakery/ (I wonder if bakers are as tired of the smell of baking bread as I am of the smell of fresh paint)/ 

iii.

more sounds/
delivery boxes dropping with heavy thuds/ (on carpeted floors)/ feet shuffling/ more telephone ringing/ more voices/

It is no wonder then/ that this current silence is a small sprinkle of euphoria/ even sweeter than the 6 am silence of waking up in a house/ where everyone/ (the dachshund and the birds on the terrace included)/ is still sleeping/

Like the sweetness of this moment/ when you spot the jumper hugging my frame/ better than the collective sweetness of all those moments/ when I meticulously put myself together for you/


* * * * *

"Marl Grey Jumper" was first published in Moss Puppy Magazine.

Stuti Sinha is an Indian writer & musician, who lives in Dubai and writes primarily about the human experience and emotions. Passionate about travel, she loves to weave different cultures, including her heritage, into writing.

In 2022, she won the Westmoreland Fiction Award & The Allingham Poetry Prize. She also received an honourable mention in the Globe Soup Short Memoir Contest, and was long-listed for the Erbacce & Gloucestershire Poetry Contests. She previously has an honourable mention in the 2021 Haiku Competition by The Society of Classical Poets and has been published by several international literature magazines and small presses.