New poem: Shirts

I had two light blue shirts.
They were identical. Exactly the same.
Just two of them.
I didn't buy them.
They were given to me by a TV company.
Wear the shirts, they said, when the one you've
been wearing is dirty, take it off, put on the other one,
no one will notice the difference, we'll wash the first one
and when the second one is dirty, you can put the first one
on again.
At the end of the series, they gave me the shirts.
I've had them ever since.
I think that's 6 years I've had them. Two light blue shirts.
I wear them really often.


The other morning, very early, I went downstairs,
switched on the light and next to the washing machine
there were my two light blue shirts.
And another one. Exactly the same as the other two.
There were three light blue shirts. Identical.
Hanging from a water-pipe next to the boiler.
Three shirts.