Last month's poem of the month writer, Jane Holland, has chosen this month's poem. She says,"I'm choosing this poem for two reasons. One, its amusing extended metaphor - the smoker as a dragon - which reminds me of my own poem 'The Dragon Woman', also about the horrors of chain-smoking for decades and the desperate need to give up. Which I eventually did! Two, I love the way this poem goes into such loving detail. Too often, in an effort to communicate Big Ideas in poetry, we forget about those tiny details that make imagery come alive on the page. Freda Davis doesn't forget, and that's what makes her poem ring with the vibrant immediacy of truth and a strong attractive undersurge of emotion." Find out more about Freda Davis and her work at http://www.writeoutloud.net/poets/fredadavis Portrait of Peter My dragon husband Lives on tobacco, Consumes all the matches And breathes smoke on me all night in bed. My dragon husband Has fire in his belly, And roars at the radio. Flames of his anger devour the television commentary. My dragon husband Prowls over his land, Muttering to his thirsty tomatoes, Turning over the wealthy soil; Pulling out pearls of potatoes, Blood red beetroot, And hot carrot gold. My dragon husband Curls up under the mountain of his duvet, Hoarding the hot water bottle. Heavy with the long night’s pondering He sleeps the day down; And, as the sun sets, Like a flash of scales and taloned wings, He goes, bright and jaunty, Weilding a long cue, Into the dragon dance of his misspent youth In smoky snooker halls On some fresh morning As the mist lifts off a winding lane of water, Between humps of hawthorn and tumbled brambles, You may see: a wing tipped curve of brolly; Green gumboot feet; Breath like smoke; And a flask, beside a dish of worms. It is my dragon husband Crouched over his line, Hunting the swift, cold demons of the water world; His deep set eyes Lost in a wordless dream of dragon land.