Quoted poems: Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

Carol Ann Duffy
1993

Hope

Hope II by Gustav Klimt, 1907/8

"Whoever wants to know something about me -- as an artist, the only notable thing -- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try to see in them what I am and what I want to do."Klimt

Hope

I’m waiting for something that will never come.
The hope is keeping me from giving up.
I know I make too much out of thoughts.

I always pursue what I’m told I can’t have.
The hope is keeping me from giving up.
I know I'm stubborn, maybe even competent.

I’m mourning the absence of an imagined loss.
The hope is keeping me from giving up.
I know I enjoy wandering off in hopeless mind.

Beril, 25/05/10