Pieces

“The all-consuming passion
is rarely found
more than a recipe
for misery,”
you read
and told me
you would see about that
and joked
“Can two people be engaged
who are already married?”
But it seems I was right
after all.

I remember the Dali drawing
that terrified me;
the broad back of the woman
turned against his anguished face
and open arms and chest and ribs
breaking up into bones and air
in vain.

It is as if
someone has gathered together
the shattered pieces of my life
in a brown paper bag
and handed it to me and said
“It’s all there. It’s all right.”
But it’s not.
I hold it awkwardly
avoiding sharp edges
looking for a bin.

 

 

Dave Wynne-Jones left teaching for health reasons, gaining an MA in creative writing at MMU, then writing articles for outdoor magazines and organising expeditions for mountaineers. He’s published two books of mountaineering non-fiction and two poetry pamphlets.