relationships

Out of the ash

I rise with my red hair   

And I eat men like air.

Lady Lazarus (Ariel), Sylvia Plath

The Applicant

First, are you our sort of a person?
Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,

Stitches to show something's missing? No, no? Then
How can we give you a thing?
Stop crying.
Open your hand.
Empty? Empty. Here is a hand

To fill it and willing
To bring teacups and roll away headaches
And do

The Couriers

The word of a snail on the plate of a leaf?
It is not mine. Do not accept it.

Acetic acid in a sealed tin?
Do not accept it. It is not genuine.

A ring of gold with the sun in it?
Lies. Lies and a grief.

Frost on a leaf, the immaculate
Cauldron, talking and crackling

All to itself on the top of each
Of nine black Alps.

A disturbance in mirrors,
The

“We made too much comedy of our differences and placed too much meaning on our similarities.”

Good Material, Dolly Alderton

“...the person who is in charge in a relationship is the one who loves the least.”

Good Material, Dolly Alderton

“I once heard a theory about the first relationship that occurs after a big relationship ends. It’s called the 90/10 rule. The theory goes: whatever the crucial 10 per cent is that was missing from your partner who was otherwise totally right for you is the thing you look for in the following person. That missing 10 per cent becomes such a fixation

“It was a cosy and convenient set-up and we were lucky that life had worked out so neatly for all of us. And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling all weekend that Andy and I were playing the part of a couple. Avi and Andy would talk about football and jokingly complain about how we, their female partners, ‘say one thing but always mean another!’ Jane

“When she puts the radio on and clatters about in the kitchen, it is a sound that makes me suspect she has started her day without me, rather than inviting me to start it with her.”

Good Material, Dolly Alderton