The Reason I Limp

vacuum cleaners
the most profound invention of our time

nothing else
can clean carpets
and at the same time
convert all floor surfaces to lava

adults, of course
gain immunity during puberty

but children must scamper
from chair to table to chair
while the vacuum monster roars,
the floor a boiling sea

I still bear burns
from age five
when my foot slipped,
left heel seared
on deceptive green shag

now
the vacuum is tamed
in my hand
the carpets cool

yet the mottled scar
tightens as I age

—Beth Cato is the author of The Clockwork Dagger (a 2015 finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel) and The Clockwork Crown from Harper Voyager. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.