This Pillow

Painting by Oliver Ray

This Pillow


This pillow is where your head should be,
my dead love.
And yes, when I change the bed
I change your pillowcase.
Every now and then the dog asks
to share this old bed and I say no.
Rarely now do I put out the breakfast things
for two, or get in the passenger seat of the car
and wait.

But I don’t read the Guardian any more,
I never really did.
I get the awful Daily Mail
with its rightwing fascist populist
unacceptable views. I watch the ITV news.
I watch Neighbours.
And Home and Away.
Trivial storylines plucked from nowhere.

The dog and I are thinking about
buying a new bed.


Stephen Fryer

Posted over on Applehouse Poetry