Auntie N

By Belinda Johnston

Location: Upper Lloyd Street

When I saw you last week in your tired flat
With the heating full on and Tom the cat
Bent over in pain at your kitchen sink:
It made me think

How much time had passed and I’d forgot to
Pick up the phone and say ”Hello Auntie”
When I saw you last week in your tired flat.

I bet you never thought I’d be like this
Trying to be brave, I gave you a kiss
We stood together at your kitchen sink
It made me think

Of how you used to be – fiery, trouble
Double the size in weight, you’d lost two stone
When I saw you last week in your tired flat

The stories you told and the books you read
I’ll have to lie down, will you help me to bed
We walked through your kitchen, what next?
Think, think.

Look Auntie, please… let me make you some tea
We watched the Somali boys playing football
From your kitchen sink, seeing you last week
Well, it made me think.

Belinda Johnston has been writing for two years, mostly poetry, and performs her poems in and around Manchester. She travelled to Japan in 2008 and returned to Manchester last November.

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6 Responses to “Auntie N”

  1. May 01, 2010 at 1:45 am, Nik Perring said:

    Nice poem.

  2. May 01, 2010 at 6:53 am, mary braithwaite said:

    a nice poem.
    not obscure.
    expressing
    a loving relationship.
    words flowing together
    like a music score
    and tied with a ribbon.
    great insight

  3. May 01, 2010 at 3:35 pm, Iain Robinson said:

    Liked the poem very much. It is like the realisation of change and ageing, the way the images dodge about and shock the reader as in “I’ll have to lie down, will you help me to bed”
    nice work.

  4. May 15, 2010 at 8:51 pm, Belinda said:

    Thank you everyone for your comments on my poem, it’s very encouraging.

    Belinda x

  5. May 18, 2010 at 3:44 pm, Irwin Edgehill said:

    Considering you’ve only been writing for two years..tells me you have a bright future.

  6. May 20, 2010 at 10:33 am, Belinda said:

    Thank you again everyone for your comments, much appreciated x Belinda

 

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