The Incidence of Oxymorons
Alone together, for once,
I told her how I thought that —
in my unbiased opinion —
the incidence of oxymorons
in the English language
had been growing smaller.
That’s old news, she said,
claiming it had been the case
for almost exactly ten years.
Strongly-held convictions
were thrown across the room.
Things got pretty ugly.
But this felt strangely normal;
for ours was a bittersweet relationship,
a seriously funny civil war
of violent agreements
and our contradictions
complemented each other perfectly.
Same difference,
I whispered at the top of my voice,
and she, with sad smile,
went back to watching
her documentary
about the benefits of Brexit.
.
Brian Bilston
“The Incidence of Oxymorons”
© 2022 by Brian Bilston
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
