bedfellows and bedfellowesses

Christina Rossetti was a regular from the 20's to the 30's

Emily Dickinson a dalliance in between

Thomas Hardy, Borges, Philip Larkin followed

before the women returned:

Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop,

and Hsia Yu

whose beer I drank and cab I shared (Taipei 2008)

then Marie Etienne, through Marilyn Hacker,

but the desire for a gin-and-tonic at 5 in the office

can only be assuaged by Wendy Cope

Oh yes, the bedside table knows

only too well

my constancy

my fickleness