poethree! carol ann duffy

Words, Wide Night
Somewhere on the other side of this wide night
and the distance between us, I am thinking of you.
The room is turning slowly away from the moon.

This is pleasurable. Or shall I cross that out and say
it is sad? In one of the tenses I singing
an impossible song of desire that you cannot hear.

La lala la. See? I close my eyes and imagine the dark hills I would have to cross
to reach you. For I am in love with you

and this is what it is like or what it is like in words.

Valentine
Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

Write About Happiness
What does happiness look like?
You in your red coat.
Where does it go for a drink?
To bed, on Sundays.

What does happiness sound like?
The purr of an unhooked phone.
What does it do for a living?
It has private means.

What does happiness feel like?
The barehanded planting of bulbs.
What is its home address?
Yours, sweetheart.

Does happiness have a scent?
The sea, the air, the earth.
Where did you see it last?
Under the bedclothes, laughing.

What taste does happiness have?
That of a long, slow kiss.
And how does happiness write?
Badly, like this.

i

sometimes i get annoyed at my sporadic rushes of being happy and cheery and lively, annoyed at myself for drowning out other people's inner voices which we could hear if we kept quiet for long enough, the voices that actually matter. but then inner voices are meant to be private, although the need for privacy is often driven by some strange fear of not being loved enough or understood enough. inner voices are kinda irrational arent they, but perhaps rightly so

learnt a new word today! i seem to keep relearning it though cos i've definitely checked it up at least twice before. 'plangent' seems to have conflicting meanings though naturally that makes it more nuanced when used carefully.

apparently we've lost about 5000 words in our vocabulary in ten years
and at the rate we're going we'd really be saying doubleplusgood instead of a proper superlative