The Conversation

She said fifteen years was a long time.
Ten years of that was waiting for you to get ready.
She didn’t laugh.
What I’m trying to say is, it’s over.
You’re not getting ready ever again.
In a way, yes.
Should I be celebrating this news.
It will be a new start for both of us.
Okay, I’ve just realised, this is a serious conversation.
Yes, I’m ending the marriage.
That’s a bit final, are you eloping with the milkman.
I just don’t want to be married anymore.
Is this when I ask, is there anybody else involved.
There’s no one else involved, I just don’t want to be married anymore.
You don’t fancy popping back every Sunday and making your famous steak pie.
Maybe every fourth Sunday.
What about the odd Saturday night sex session.
Don’t you fancy someone new.
No, I don’t think I’ve got another fifteen years to break someone new in
What if I find someone new.
Well, I suppose you could invite him round for Sunday lunch, but I draw the line at the Saturday night sex session.
You are okay with me leaving.
Well, I’m not completely happy about it, you do have this knack of knowing where everything is.
You could just phone me and ask.
Do you really want me phoning you twenty times a day.
I’m sure you’ll get used to it.
Is this what we call tough love.
I don’t want it to be, I was hoping you would say good luck.
In a way I am, but I’m still trying to negotiate you staying.
I think you know my mind is made up.
I know, but I had to try.

Reviews

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Paul this is a superb serio-comic dialogue with much meant but unsaid between each line...your unique snd original style perfectly conveys it all. There are years of feeling, experiences, history, anger and love existing in this conversation. Each line is punctuated with pathos. “I know but I had to try.”-devastating. Real, honest, human. Great.

[sette]

i love the flow of conversation wherein it is too honest to be true... if maybe there can be good and honest conversation between spouses then perhaps the statistics in divorce will be lessened...lol

[Paul Bell]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[The Iron Horseman]

Lol! I just love your satirical stuff, Paul. I love the interplay here - the almost casual indifference on one side and the quiet desperation on the other. The way the humor masks the very serious point that when it's over, it's over, is subtle and effective. Great stuff!

[Paul Bell]

She never came back and made her famous steak pie.

[The Iron Horseman]

Oh well, you can always get a good Cornish pasty at the chippy!

[Paul Bell]

And the girl in the chippy is quite nice. lol

[The Iron Horseman]

Deep fried with chips? :)

[Mrudula Rani]

Your poems with conversations are the best! And my favorites. The most amusing aspect is how cool the protagonist in these poems is without a trace of malice. And that patience of his makes the lady in the poem an unreasonable character.

[Paul Bell]

Think time caught up with them.

[Mrudula Rani]

one of them being unhappy about the way things are usually leads to the inevitable conversations .....