You’re a study to me
content in your calmness
not derailed by desire
nor rotten with bitterness

You cry when you need to
outspoken but reasonable
never screaming, no ill meaning
at your core, only gentleness

An easiness in each movement
you wave everyone in
make integrity and kindness
look utterly effortless

Disarming and charming
you got strong
from lifting others up
as if it...

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I saw you there sweating
while under the shade
screaming, "stop that now" 
and you threw a book
thump
straight out in front of you
onto faded grass.

You ordered him, "Go! 
Pick it up, you useless child"
A well-dressed boy in a school cap 
cowered to gain the book 
brought it back to you; 
you dropped it
Twice! 
So he had to pick it up again, and again
while you admonished him for ...

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Reflections on single-parenthood. 

Last Day at School 

And you are off,

Floating through our front door,

Awash with make-up,

Dripping with love,

Much taller now,

Towering above me

A figure of strength,

 Last day at school

Where are you now?

When you are not with me,

No need for cuddles,

No clinging to my leg,

You won’t remember,

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My wings are brown, not black and shiny.
I'm always peeping out through leaves.
I try and keep above the fear trilling below,
I know they are ingesting bitter roots.
And yet I swallow their song all the same.
The empty smoke of hope that arises,
as I am the Blackbird mother sitting,
gathering material and protecting you,
refined in pointless expectation.
I am a gust of failure that ruins,
...

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words

            no man should know

            or say

words

            no child should hear:

            parent, pray

            to be spared.

as he sat with his sons at home

and struggled to find

words:

he knew

            she will never return to us

he knew

            she is too ill

In a time when she was strong

for them

as her body weake...

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Being a mother can be very tough
There are days when I feel all gruff
Every time I feel like that I wish I know
I simply need to relax & go with the flow
Every time my kids make utter mess 
I wish I know there are many who suffer from being childless
Every time I see my dreams being fulfilled in their future
I wish I know my job is not to control but to nurture
I wish I remember that they ...

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A poem written after lunch today.

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I want to be alone,
but only within my family.
I want to to teach you
but only with him too.
I want to help myself
but only if you help me.
I want to be confident
but only if you are there.
I want to be creative
but only if you allow me.
I want to be a parent
but only if I’m parented.
I want to be an adult
but only if I can be a child.
I want to feel emotions
but only if you hold me...

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We exist on the clock
a meander in the changing river
I clutch at air but it’s gone
the sand of the banks
slips through my hands
my hands
flow all over you

There is a magic I think we should birth
there is a magic I think you’d regret not knowing
and yet we look the other way
as those sands flow…
as those sands flow through…

We tussle on the floodplain
blowing leaves caught by the...

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She sent me out into the world,

But before she did she made sure I had breakfasted.

She sent me out into the world,

But before she did she filled my lunch box.

She sent me out into the world,

But for me tea she prepared a banquet,

Gil and Benjamin broke my fast,

So though I knew the revolution would not be televised

I saw a poet could be hero in my Mother’s...

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