New writing ROMANCE Guest Editor SOPHIE HANNAH introduces her pick of poetry and prose on the theme of romance As a regular reader of Mslexia, I follow the New Writing section with great interest, and find that I generally have a firm view about each issue’s chosen subject for submissions. Some seem immediately inspiring, while others have made me groan. ‘Why did the guest editor choose paperclips/manure /wellington boots?’ I would ask myself. ‘She must have strange taste in reading matter.’ Little did I know that guest editors do not choose the subject. When I was asked to undertake this task, I said yes straight away, looking forward to choosing my topic. Seconds later I was told that the theme had already been set, and that it was romance. I was a bit put out. Still, it could have been worse. It could have been glaciated valleys or the Euro. Romance, I decided, is a pretty good theme, particularly since it can mean so many different things. It’s an interesting word. It isn’t the same thing as love. I love my daughter, but I am not involved in a romance with her. So does romance mean love between sexual partners? Not necessarily. One of my best teenage romances was with a Catholic boy who, after we had tried premarital sex a couple of times, decided that it was indeed as sinful as he had suspected. The sexually-frustrated abstinence that followed, accompanied by much sighing, crying and melodrama, was far more romantic than an ordinary relationship would have been. Had we carried on sleeping together, we’d probably have lost interest in one another within a month. As it was, each of us remained a symbolic, yearned-for object in the mind of the other for quite some time. For the complete essay, and for Sophie's full selection of poetry and prose on the theme of romance, read issue 18 • Subscribe! Read a poem chosen by Sophie Hannah: Lovers by Gill McEvoy For more on SOPHIE HANNAH, go to www.sophiehannah.com
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