Esther Breuer

 

She’s the heroine I least imagine

to look like yourself - short hair, dark

I think you say, though for some 

reason I picture her as blonde.

Yet she’s the one I seem most

to identify with, though

I’m not sure why. An art historian,

not much of a reader, at least 

not of Jane Austen, except

surprisingly, according to you

or one of your characters -

Sense and Sensibility, 

not my favourite either.

 

I think it’s her single state

and her flat in the city,

though not in the centre.

But the only houseplant she has

is a potted palm, and even that

barely knows how to care for.

It could be her yearning

for the countryside,

at odds with her urban existence.

It could be her love of riverside walks, 

or is that yourself - or both of you?