This is one of Liz Lochhead’s most popular pieces – and understandably so, with its universal theme of lost love and its mixture of ruefulness, reality, and wit. It’s included in the forthcoming volume, A Choosing: the Selected Poems of Liz Lochhead with foreword by Carol Ann Duffy (to be published by Polygon on October 6 at £9.99). The southern poet laureate justly praises her Scottish counterpart.
Today saw the last of my Spanish shampoo.
Lasted an age now that sharing with you,
such a thing of the past is.
Giant Size. The brand
was always a compromise.
My new one’s tailored exactly to my needs.
Nonspill. Protein-rich.
Feeds body, promises to solve my problem hair.
Sweetheart, these days it’s hard to care,
But oh oh insomniac moonlight
how unhoneyed is my middle of the night.
I could see you
far enough. Beyond me
how we’ll get back together.
Campsites in Spain, moonlight,
heavy weather.
Today saw the end of my Spanish shampoo,
the end of my third month without you.
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