NO LONGER THERE.A Poem by Terry CollettA BOY WATCHING HIS MOTHER'S LABOURS.
You used to watch your mother
boiling the washing in the steel copper then heave it out with the wooden copper stick and into the ringer where you'd help to pull it through as it pushed out the water into a bowl underneath you took in her red hands the steam rising from her fingers the sweat on brow the tired gaze the tied around apron flowered blue and yellow and white and the red patterned top black skirt then you watched as she leant back and put her hands to the small of her back to ease the ache and some days ( if bored with cowboy games or too wet to go out) you watched her make a cake in a mixing bowl adding the ingredients one by one ( giving you a handful of dried fruit if you asked) and put the mixture in a large round tin and then place in the oven with a sigh and run her fingers through her dark hair on other days you'd watch her iron clothes ( using the old iron which had been heated on the stove) on the ironing board running it over carefully each item in turn taking care not to burn and you liked to watch the steam rise like incense before your eyes back in the old days when you were a boy in short trousers and white shirt with that curious stare but now your mother the lady who laboured hard has passed away and those washed and ironed clothes and cakes are no longer there. © 2013 Terry CollettReviews
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StatsAuthorTerry CollettUnited KingdomAboutTerry Collett has been writing since 1971 and published on and off since 1972. He has written poems, plays, and short stories. He is married with eight children and eight grandchildren. on January 27t.. more..Writing
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