Pizza with Monroe
Apparently, this is a good competition poem. It was published in the magazine Orbis after doing well in a competition judged by Wendy Cope. Another competition, specializing in sonnets, resulted in it being included in an anthology named The Sonnet at the Millennium, published by the Open University Shakespeare Society.
'Ready to order yet?' A little curt,
The waitress asked us for the second time.
Our menus lay unread. 'Pre-prandial' wine
Sparkled untasted. You in your short skirt,
A slightly prettier Monroe, and I,
Unshaven, in my trademark plastic mac,
Vaguely apologized and sent her back,
Exchanging glances, mischievous and shy.
We must have nattered more in that one night
Than in the whole embittered stressful year,
And through it all I held that evening dear,
Until you told me, after our worst fight,
That you, too, nursed these moments in your heart.
After four years, we'd made a sort of start.
