Text prompt:

Nancy Anne Smith suggested this subject for a prompt we do every year. Your challenge is to write a poem about the topic of marriage, without ever using the word marriage, and while also ideally avoiding the words spouse, husband, and wife.

 

I just want to be your Priority

 Call me your darling, call me your baby,

Shona, pet, or Habibi.

Soulmate even, maybe.

I just want to be your priority.

 

Violent wars on the telly

Politics and pollution in London and Delhi

Through the good, the bad and the smelly

I just want to be your priority.

 

Builders, gardeners, plumbers, all

Doctors, dentists, solicitors call

Taxes rise and pensions fall.

I just want to be your priority.

 

River cruises and weekend walks

Holiday food which tastes like chalk

without all our easy nonstop talks.

I just want to be your priority.

 

Endless cups of Darjeeling tea,

Trapped in timeless tranquillity.

Lives crystal clear yet dustymisty.

I just want to be your priority.