I know I’m a fan of one word poem titles & it’s not for everyone, but there really are…a lot…of poems with titles like “Six Years After My Husband Left Me, My Daughter Comes Home From School & Asks Me About Walruses”.
So tweeted Clarissa Aykroyd – who gave me permission to use her exemplary title.
SIX YEARS AFTER MY HUSBAND LEFT ME, MY DAUGHTER COMES HOME FROM SCHOOL AND ASKS ME ABOUT WALRUSES
x
I am not doing the dishes. I don’t believe in it.
That’s why I have a housekeeper. I have my practice
To keep abreast of. My daughter is very independently-minded.
At eight, she is already proud of her eccentricity.
Why is she asking? And how exactly did she put it?
I was only half listening as I was watching some programme
About a pogrom – which somehow seemed more urgent –
A pogrom against owners of bitcoin. She repeats it:
Mum, what do you think about walruses?
Now is that Walruses with a capital W? A brand maybe.
Mums have to be so cool these days. Some species
Of footwear? Perhaps she wants to keep one as a pet.
That would in all likelihood prove expensive,
You’d have to build a pool for it. And though I provide
For us comfortably enough with my practice,
Since Ken buggared off, put it this way, I’m mindful.
That’s why in the evenings I like to relax by listening to
Financial views and familiarising myself with
Such phrases as the Gulag Casino. I wouldn’t want to have
Anything to do with them, I respond grumpily.
Why can’t she ever ask me about something more
Educational, more stature building, more
Up my street, like Thomas Jefferson? At her age
I knew all about him. I could seriously expand
If she came and said, Mum what do you think about
Thomas Jefferson? And I could round it off by saying
