1   <b>Love Sonnet #9</b>  EDITH SPEERS<BR><BR>

Darling! I have to see you! Can you come? <BR>
Not right now, of course - I'm up to my bum<BR>
In boring things I have to do. Why not <BR>
Next month? Not Thursday because I work that day; <BR>
And what with this and that, all Wednesday's shot; <BR>
Tuesdays are so awkward, too. Let's say<BR>
A long weekend. But warn me in advance -<BR>
It won't be wise to leave it all to chance.
<BR><BR>
It's such a pity I'm not on the phone, <BR>
But call me at my job, that's quite okay, <BR>
Otherwise you mightn't find me home -<BR>
A shame if you drove down here all that way<BR>
For nothing. Which reminds me - I can't cook, <BR>
So bring some coleslaw and a barbecued chook. <BR><BR><BR>


from <i>Contemporary Australian Poetry</i> (Houghton Mifflin, 1990), edited by John Leonard. <BR>Used and reprinted by permission. <BR><BR><BR>



<i>Click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y20bR03WZAs">here</a> for a reading by Alison Croggon of this poem and one of her own.</i><BR><BR>


<i>Click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwO-ffP8iQg">here</a> for a video of the Melbourne premiere of Leonard Lehrman's setting, Jan. 5, 2002.</i>