Untitled 

Your fondness for ellipses, 

what’s that all about then? 

 

You once said my poetry is too buttoned up, Fred. 

I’m trying to make it more open ended 

 

if you get my drift… 

 

Fred does. 

dotting the I’s  

and crossing the t’s  

is old hat in his book. 

 

He thinks we’re writing on the same page now. 

time for him to move on,  

leave me to it. 

 

Whatever ‘It’ is, Fred, 

could you be more precise? 

 

Fred sighs, ‘Let’s start again.’ 

from ‘By Way of Reply’ (Waterloo Press, 2025) © Maggie Sullivan 2025, used by permission of the author.

Born in Islington in north London, the premature death of her mother just before Sullivan’s 7th birthday necessitated her ...

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