Talking in bed ought to be easiest,
Lying together there goes back so far,
An emblem of two people being honest.
Yet more and more time passes silently.
Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest
Builds and disperses clouds in the sky,
And dark towns heap up on the horizon.
None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why
At this unique distance from isolation
It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind,
Or not untrue and not unkind.– Philip Larkin, Talking in Bed
INSIDE INSIGHT: I really like this quote because so many of the conversations Jane and Alex have in bed are so terribly awkward. Even when she starts them by undoing his pyjama pants…
You: “Who’s Alex?”
Me: “The husband.”
You: “Oh, right. Does she ever talk in bed with Matt?”
Me: “Ha. Loaded question.”
ORDERS: Get the writer in your life a copy of Philip Larkin’s Letters to Monica. Get your favourite lover a copy of Larkin’s High Windows. Talk in bed.
