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Used. Like new.

Posted by HaiAnh on April 8, 2008 - 19:13
from the ABC set Safety goggles must be worn at all times

A 64-year-old playwright, retired,
Whilst driving slowly through fog
Told me clearly that we
“are meant for each other”.
When I got home
I purchased his book
Super delivery.
We are.
I am in love,
With J H Prynne
But apparently
He doesn’t want to see
anyone.
Not even me.
If I added 40 to my 25
we’d be almost level.
His books are ‘used’;
Mine in their infancy.
Amazon kindly recommended
The books his other mistresses
Were reading
and now
I only have reading glasses
For Neil Rollinson.
If only it was my flat stomach
He was cracking his eggs on.
Last summer they all lined up:
Billy Collins, Scroobius Pip,
John Betjeman peeking up
my pyjama leg.
However, honestly
I never really loved any of them.
I just wanted to take their surname
and have their poems.

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Comments

animan | April 8, 2008 - 19:23

This is great. What more can I say? Hmm. I know. This is great ... and cool. And, what would it look like if you only had capitals at the beginning of full sentences ... just a thought ... but a bit like worrying about the sand dunes when studying the pyramids through one's binoculars, if you get my drift.

luigi_pagano | April 9, 2008 - 14:22

Very droll. Some excellent lines. I particularly liked:

His books are ‘used’;
Mine in their infancy.

Just to re-iterate the point made by the other reviewer the mixture of capitals and lower case letters at the beginning of a line is a bit untidy.
As for the poem a very good effort.

Doeslittle | April 10, 2008 - 14:14

Nice, funny. Especially liked the idea of Betjeman peeking up your pyjama leg and that you want to 'have their poems'.