What are you doing this evening?

Margaret Clough

Don’t know – it just depends –

So if

you want to fly me to a tropic isle

to walk at sunset with you on the beach,

dig bare toes into the wet soft sand

and watch the moon rise bright behind the palms,

or if

you have a special restaurant in mind,

where you can treat me to a feast

of lobster, sole and oysters, fillet steak

all followed by a sweet of crème brulee,

or if

you have bought tickets to “La Boheme”

with Sibongele in the lead and we

can feed our souls with sound and afterwards

you’ve hired a limousine to drive us home,

Why then –

I’ve nothing planned; I’m quite

at your disposal.

But if, as I suspect,

you have a pile of washing; your machine

has broken down and cannot be repaired, your shirt

has lost its buttons and your cat

needs taking to the vet,

why then, my love,

I might say I am otherwise engaged, but yet,

I’ve not the heart – I’m really quite,

at your disposal still.



From: McGregor Poetry Anthology 2013
Published by African Sun Press in association with the McGregor Poetry Festival
ISBN number 978-0-620-62302-5

The Poet:

Margaret Clough is a retired soil chemist and science teacher. She has published one collection, At Least the Duck Survived; and her poems have been published variously in Litnet, South Africa Writing, Carapace and New Contrast.

Previously published:
Margaret Clough: By Sandvlei Shore and What are you doing this evening from At Least the Duck Survived. Modjaji Books, Cape Town, 2011. ISBN 978-1-920397-85-2. Surprises on the Internet from Carapace Volume 94 Cape Town.