HE
You hurt me
With your desire
For other. I am
Who I am and I
Am fond of myself.
SHE
now you
made me cry with pity
for my poor undone self. all ruffled
and done in
by aristotle’s concept of unity.
(384–322 bc)
HE
What do you want
From a human lover?
An
Abstract and
Totally useless
Way of seeing to
Plunge
Toes
Waving
I know you swim at sunrise
With the newts and water voles
In the mud and silt of our Thames
Buffeted by currents and the wash from boats
(I have to blow-dry your wings for hours after)
No one would have you
Wet and melancholy
(You’re sort of inconsolable)
Weeping tears of gas
Over the spires of north Ilford
Talk to me straight
Like a motorway
Stay in the left lane
Do not use the hard shoulder
Do not drive against the traffic flow
It’s a straight conversation.
SHE
sit here.
Yes here.
that’s nice.
straddle my angelic
hips
with yr small town
thighs.
HE
Like this
My sweet feathery
Tormentor?
_________________________________________
Extract from An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell, by Deborah Levy. Used with permission of the publisher, And Other Stories.
