Ian Souter Poet Imagism

Loaded with Loathing

Loaded with Loathing

The row was canine inspired.
He had a dog he treasured; enriched by its love.
She felt cold jealousy; starved of misplaced affection.
She wanted it gone; he wouldn’t hear of it.
One evening he returned home,
his beloved Henri had mysteriously died.
He blamed her; she faulted him
saying his heart wagged like the dog’s tail!
He could never forgive;
she would never show understanding!!

They now station their days, opposite each other.
He, in his old leathered, tethered seat;
she, in a rather mundane, cane chair.
He often appears to be sleeping 
but the occasional crocodile slit 
in his eyelids belies this;
she knits, he knows nothing escapes her, 
not even the tightest, slightest twitch!
42 years together, a nettlesome relationship turned to hate,
42 years together, neither is willing to let the other win.

So they sit there hiding in plain sight.
He, lounging as if possibly dead 
but probably breathing through his shoes;
she sits there imitating a ventriloquist’s dummy 
minus voice and…. inserted hand.
He occasionally serves up a small, sliced smirk
which he sneeringly warms himself on;
she washes it all down with a cold contempt.
Her eyes are guns loaded with……… 
loathing and disdain.

In contrast…………
two love struck pigeons 
now perch on the couple’s window sill.
The streamlined female pigeon  
dreams of her latest Dove purchase;
the male is formulating his latest hai-coo poem.
They both have a bird’s eye view of the situation
and conclude that the couple's relationship 
has more than lost its....smile;
melancholy is both master and mistress!

He occasionally stutters across the room, 
slamming the door like an exclamation mark!
Eventually he totters and teeters back, 
apparently opening the door like a question mark? 
He has gone out to comb his hair or whatever,
a quick change of disguise, anything to annoy!
They are both, presently, in the final straight;
a race where the winner will only come ... second. 
They are settled in, conditioned, waiting to see 
just which one of them will falter….and flatline first!


Ian Souter

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