Crossed Wires

by Oonah V Joslin


I like the alternating current of our life;
our to and fro electrical connection;
my grumpy morning porridge face,
pasty and with no trace of affection
your discourse on the history of toast and marmalade
or Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh.
The fridge farts its disapproval of the removal of milk
I make the usual noises, half past listen
and you beg pardon. An old joke but tailor made
to switch on my smile. Your way of making certain
there’s nothing wrong a cup of strong tea can’t solve
I’m not in the grip of a depression.
I just need to recharge my batteries. You know
I wasn’t wired well for love, not having
that degree of self regard it takes to love another
selflessly. Your pragmatism always wins.
And you weren’t wired well for love, having that degree.
Crossing wires frequently reroutes our conversation.
It’s how we were and are. It’s how we’re meant to be.


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Oonah V Joslin was born in N. Ireland. She has won micro-fiction and poetry awards and two Moon Prizes in Writing in a Woman’s Voice. She is currently poetry editor at The Linnet’s Wings magazine. Her chapbook Three Pounds of Cells is available on Amazon and had the first poem to feature on a National Trust postcard from her book Almost on Brantwood Jetty which she read for a video on board the Gondola Steamship at Coniston in 2016. You can follow her at http://oonahs.blogspot.com/ (Oonahverse) and on Facebook.