My mother used to believe she'd run people over...
Posted on Sunday 25th April 2010 11:14 pm
My mother used to believe she'd run people over
And would spend the long blue evenings
Circling the same roads looking for the aftermath
Of an incident she'd inadvertently caused.
It seemed normal then, driving round in the dying light,
Peering into hedgerows for fallen bodies,
Scanning the horizon for blue lights.
She'd massaged these distortions into a routine,
In between the school run and evening meal.
Just as now my own diluted obsessions
I leave until I'm alone. At night
When the minds reel plays, spooling and spooling
Till sanity decamps the rail
And I find myself downstairs at midnight
Checking the doors and windows are still locked.
Then again at two and four
As the wind rattles the fixings
The world seems as fragile as theatre set.
I'll see myself, wide awake at some ungodly hour,
Testing the back door for the fifth time,
Engrossed in the seriousness of the ritual,
That dim reflection is my mothers face,
Earnestly preventing the worlds untimely collapse.
The look of sincere employment
Unique to the beleaguered and obsessed.
ray miller
Tue 13th Apr 2010 09:46
Thanks Tom, I never thought of Claret and Blue as a psalm, but now you mention it...Spurs haven't broken into the top 4, though, that place will go with the money.I do see the attraction in a relegation battle, that's one of the ideas in the poem, promotion battles must be even better. Who do you support?