In Five Instalments (Poetry)

The story starts in
the nineteen fifties
born to average
working class parents
of modest income

Their only daughter
a disappointment
although they never
came out and said it
in so many words

No real surprise then
she underachieved
failed to shine at school
no encouragement
or interest shown

by either parent
who grimly endured
their daily friction
she survived the frost
of loveless childhood

She married. Divorced
loved again in vain
giving birth alone
Fell ill. Remarried
Emerged a poet