A poem by Paul Brookes

A marriage

of chalk and cheese.

She says,

“I’m more southern:

cold hands, warm heart.

You’re northern:

warm hands, cold heart.”

her with her tv quizzes,

me with documentaries.

We have similar thoughts

at the same time.

“You’re always in the way.”

When out, I go my way,

she goes hers, so we double up

on milk and bread.

Clairvoyant said, “You’ll marry a foreigner.”

Paul Brookes has performed in the poetry performance group Rats for Love and is included in their 1989 Rats for Love: The Book (available from Bristol Broadsides). His first chapbook, The Fabulous Invention of Barnsley (1993), is available from Dearne Community Arts.