Poem: Against Hypothermia (first published in Northwords magazine, Scotland, 1995)

I.

Worst winter in quite a while:

the guy who delivered our calor gas

was frantic, rushed off his feet.

“Never been so busy. And the other

boy I work with’s went and got

himself arrested - driving without

a licence.” We sympathised while

he put the gas in our heater and

then he ran down the stairs to his

van, too busy to be cold.

II.

The living room warmed

by the oven, door open, grumbling

of gas; we’ll sleep in here

tonight, on the couch that

folds down, duvets brought through

from the bedroom where we could...