I just dug this out from some coursework -we had to write a poem about an old tool (dont ask)
She uses it almost every day.
a background sound to summers play.
she is hidden from my view
but you can hear it from behind the old Yew
Sometimes it will stop.
Quick, slide down from the tree
a stop could mean she is looking for me.
Up a tree is not somewhere I,m suposed to play
and now ripped shorts, and scraped knees, will give me away.
Sometimes it will stop.
It clunks as it is laid on the path
my heart sinks, that means its time for my bath.
later, in bed I can hear it again
as she cleans it, shaking the soil off over the drain.
Sometimes it will stop.
She,s been out there so long,
it was louder, moved faster, something is wrong
She,s mad with some-one it might be me
I,m off to the park not waiting here to see.
Sometimes it will stop.
She is heading inside.
shall I follow or shall I hide
decision is made, I hear the freezer lid squeek
I head for the kitchen the ice cream tastes so sweet
Sometimes it will stop.
Now I have left home,
and she is called to speak with me on the phone
Much later I use it, as she watches from her chair
muttering under my breath as she bosses me from there.
Sometimes it will stop.
I make a pot of of tea
We chat and gossip just her and me
And she drops her wise words into my ears
Just as when as a child I had told her my fears
Then it just stopped.
She is gone, i never thought i would miss that sound
and I have searched everywhere, but it is also no longer around
and i long to revisit each message, each vowel
spoken by my mothers rattling handled old trowel.
I used to dream about getting chased by russians (it was project fear back in the day) then it was s easide town that i have never identified and dont know who was chasing me - but once it was a seaside town i do know as its where i go dolphin watching and there were dolphins in this dream -but they were surfing and there were penguins wiith them - people laughed at me (i laughed at me) as if that would ever happen but i didnt forget the dream and years later i went to capetown and there are penguins close to there which i saw, and the dolphins do actually surf off the coast just round from there ( which i really want to see) - so who is laughing now.
(or maybe its because i surfed there and in a wet suit i would say i am definitely more like a penguin than a dolphin.
)