Between
I lie awake
listening to the wind.
There are metaphors and
metaphors but none
to put up this longing
for my new love.
The house creaks slightly.
There is no ghost here
only the absence
of my old love.
About this poem
This poem was included in Best Scottish Poems 2006. Best Scottish Poems is an online publication, consisting of 20 poems chosen by a different editor each year, with comments by the editor and poets. It provides a personal overview of a year of Scottish poetry. The editor in 2006 was Janice Galloway.
Editor’s comment:
Poignant and passionate, between two worlds. A little gem.
Author’s note:
There is nothing much to say about this piece – it says what it says, about that difficult space between an old love and a new one – the tug between. It says it simply – perhaps it’s not even a poem – or sometimes poetry has to do without its old tricks, its figures of speech – although it’s not totally immune even here: ‘put up’ is in the sense of ‘give a home to’ (at least).
