Valentine
Carol Ann Duffy * Track #9 On Mean Time
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Album Mean Time
- #1The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team
Carol Ann Duffy
- #2Litany
Carol Ann Duffy
- #3Nostalgia
Carol Ann Duffy
- #4Stafford Afternoons
Carol Ann Duffy
- #5Before You Were Mine
Carol Ann Duffy
- #6Welltread
Carol Ann Duffy
- #7Confession
Carol Ann Duffy
- #8Valentine
Carol Ann Duffy
- #9Havisham
Carol Ann Duffy
- #10First Love
Carol Ann Duffy
Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy
Performed by
Carol Ann DuffyAbout
This poem comes from Carol Ann Duffy’s 1993 collection Mean Time. This layered title. a polyseme, can refer to the measurement of time taken from Greenwich in London, known as Greenwich Mean Time, from which bearings are taken which control the world’s clocks. It signifies the inescapable nature of...
Valentine Annotated
Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.
I am trying to be truthful.
Not a cute card or a kissogram.
I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.
Valentine Q&A
Who wrote Valentine's ?
Valentine was written by Carol Ann Duffy.