Morning and Memories

She had managed to get out
and met you by the pond

where you had been waiting
and the morning air was fresh

and the birds were in song
and the flowers around the pond

were colourful
and she sat beside you

and said
Had to sneak out

the back way
before my mother

gave me chores
and anyway

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poem by Terry Collett
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Naming of Things.

That's a Small Skipper
Jane said

And that's a Clouded yellow
as two butterflies

flittered overhead
as you both lay

in the tall grass
on the side

of the Downs
and you followed

her finger
as it indicated

the butterflies' flight
and then they were gone

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poem by Terry Collett
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Such a Terrible Thing.

That would be such a terrible
Thing she said seeing morning
Come through the window like
Some peeping Tom if he was to
Write and say he didn’t want to
Meet and that he never loved
Me at all or indeed in the first
Place that it was all just pretence
And she waited each day for his
Letter to come saying precisely
That saying what she thought a
Terrible thing written in his neat
Hand with that hard pushed down
Period at the end of the last sentence
And with the absence of those crosses
Of kisses at the bottom of the page
And she lifted her head to the day
Coming through her window wondering
If the mailman would be late or if
Maybe he was on his way and maybe

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poem by Terry Collett
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After School Tea.

Mother said
you were to go back

to Mrs Clark's house
for tea after school

and she would pick
you up later

after work
and so when

the bell went
for the end

of the school day
you went with Mrs Clark

and her daughter Helen
for tea and Mrs Clark

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poem by Terry Collett
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Auntie and Hand Washing

You made your way from the john
to the dining table
and Auntie said

have you washed your hands?
yes
you said

are you sure?
Auntie asked
looking at you

with her fixed stare
and the black mutt
under the table

gazed at you too
I washed them this morning
you said

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poem by Terry Collett
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Dolly and the Salesman

There's a salesperson at the door
someone said
and so you went to the door
and there was the young salesman

with a book in his hand
and in a sharp grey suit
and hair neat and short cut
yes?

you said
I represent Carson's stores
and it has been brought
to my notice

that you are behind
with your payments
is that so?
you said

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poem by Terry Collett
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Judith and You and A Morning Mist

The morning mist
that hung over

the pond (or your lake
as Judith called it)

had moved away
by the time she came

and stood next to you
wrapped up in her

Sunday best
waiting until the time

for the bus to take
you both to sing

in the church
her breath flowing out

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poem by Terry Collett
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Too Concerned with Self

People are too concerned
with self, said Father Higgs.
His aged face as if hewn from
Rock, sat before you on broad

shoulders, the lips labouring
with the words. Too much
worried how self will feel,
how self will benefit. He

hunched forward, his large
eyes moving over you like
tired slugs. The symbol of
the cross, he said with a

movement of his head, is to
cut through the I, the sign
of the self. You noticed one
high brow, grey, larger than

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poem by Terry Collett
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Good Deed Done.

The old woman
was lying

on the path
from her

ground floor flat
along Harper Road

when you and Helen
walked by

on your way
from the shop

with your penny drinks
you both ran to her

and she said she'd fallen
so Helen

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poem by Terry Collett
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Simple Fact

There was the simple fact
she was pregnant and by him.
Three months late. Morning
sickness. Throwing up after

breakfast. If she had breakfast.
And Thornton knew nothing
of it and that was the way she
wanted it: him ignorant of that

fact of her being with child as
Mother called it. She’d not seen
him since the big bust-up after
the Chekov play. He rang twice

but she put the phone down with
a mighty slam. That temper of
yours, Mother used to say, will
be the death of you. Not yet at

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poem by Terry Collett
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