The Way You
It was the way you seemed to bounce
across Front Square as if your body held
some inner joy; the way you wouldn’t dance
at parties but sat there, pipe in mouth,
considering the quainter follies
of the human race.
The way, later, you referred to me always
as “my wife”, and not “the wife”
as some men do.
It was all of these.
And I wanted it to last
forever.
Gill McEvoy has had two pamphlets published by Happenstance Press, both now out of print. Full collection, The Plucking Shed (Cinnamon Press, 2010). A second collection is due from Cinnamon in 2013. Gill has been awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship for 2012. Find out more here.
Marvellous, moving poem.
Thank you very much.
Every word in this poem matters and brings this person into focus – it moved me a lot. Very clever use of layout and that second stanza really touched me. Thank you Gill for writing it and Helen for publishing.
Thank you, Valerie. Very generous!
I really admire how you have managed to say so much, and to draw such a vivid picture, in so few words. I feel as if I knew this person. I will use this poem to help me with my own writing.
Moving and sensitively drawn, exactly how poetry should be.
Not a wasted word! Emotive without being sentimental. Thanks for sharing.