Newsnight
[Bombing of Iraq February, 2001]
These days
Everything smells like something else
Passed down from mother to daughter.
From father to son. Hair oil. Armpit
Talc. Aftershave. Saddam Hussein.
Jeremy Paxman.
Half the land between Wigan and Southport
Reeks of cabbage and sprouts and claims
It is the most cheerful aspect of Lincolnshire.
The other half is divided between cigarettes
And soap. It could easily have been different.
My next wife tastes of Berlin
Full of searchlights and dogs.
How I imagine West Berlin tasted
Before they got rid of the wall. Jeremy
Demands that she answer his questions
But she won't. She's not stupid. She'll say
No. My husband is missing. My husband
Hasn't been home for weeks. Months. Years.
We don't know where he is. No one does.
I think he is living somewhere
Between Wigan and Southport.
Eventually the police
Will find someone like him
Buried inside Lincolnshire.
Page(s) 29
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