A Matter Of Opinion
I’ve watched you, all the evening;
it’s something lonely people tend to do.
I’ve seen you call on him
to sort the kids out,
carve the meat and pour the wine.
I’ve seen him go, without your asking,
to fetch logs and find
the table games we’ve played with laughter.
I’ve watched his hand, and yours, at intervals
stray out to find their partners
and seen him look at you with bedroom eyes
when I said that it was time for me to go.
Now, having kissed a dutiful good-night,
he stands, his arm about your waist,
to see me safely out and on my way.
Of course I envy you that closeness
but I’ve never grudged you anything you have.
If only you and all the rest, who simply do not know,
would please refrain from telling me
that loneliness is only in the mind.
magazine list
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- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
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- Atlas
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- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
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- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
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- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
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- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
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- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The