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# Allow Twenty-Four Hours
- URL: https://www.rinkform.com/allow-twenty-four-hours/
- Published: 2026-10-04T23:28:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-04T23:30:28.000Z
- Author: The Scandinavian Quarterly
- Tags: Poem of the week, Jakob Gustavsson

the radiators came on this week  
not all at once

first the bedroom  
then the one beneath the kitchen window

the housing company says  
this is normal

allow twenty-four hours  
before reporting a fault

at 17:42 you wrote  
are you home

I was buying bread, dishwasher salt  
those small tomatoes you said were pointless

the receipt says  
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT

outside the supermarket  
someone had left a bicycle unlocked

no one took it

on the bus a woman removed her gloves   
with her teeth and called her mother

yes  
yes I ate  
no it isn’t that cold yet

I watched the houses pass

one window  
then another  
then another

people eating at tables  
people standing at sinks

at home the bedroom was too warm

I turned the radiator down  
put the tomatoes in the fridge  
although you always said not to

at 21:06 you wrote  
never mind

the housing company says  
do not switch the heating off completely

the pipes can freeze.