MONDAY MORNING FEELING.A Poem by Terry Colletta school girl one Monday morning in 1956Helen awakes to dawn's light. Tick tock of hall clock. Light peeps through blue curtains like a nosey child. What day is it? she muses. Monday. Sighs. Looks at her doll, Battered Betty, beside her in the bed; one eye open, one eye shut, dressed in an old grey dress. Time? Radio plays from sitting room. Music drifts. Tick tock of hall clock. She counts. Seven fifteen. Tick tock. Time to get up. Sighs. Pushes back grey blankets. Puts her feet onto the cold linoleum floor. Cold. She sits on the edge of her bed; looks at her toes, her feet. She looks back at Betty. Lazy girl. Sighs. She gets up and walks to the window. Peeps through the curtains at day's dull light. Coldness bites at her limbs. She stares at the wall opposite; dull coloured bricks. She can smell bacon frying. Breakfast. She walks across her room on cold linoleum. Opens the door, goes out and closes door; leaves Betty to sleep. She walks down the passage. Radio plays. Music filters. Bacon smell. Her mother is at the gas cooker frying bacon. Her hair in curlers, dark hair, plump features. Fairies wake you up? Mother asks. No, just woke up, Helen says, sniffing the air, looking at the kitchen/ bathroom. The table has been lowered over the bath. Plates set out. Wash before food, Mother says. Helen takes the boiled water in the kettle to the sink and places a plug in the hole and pours the water in. She puts the kettle back on the stove. She turns on the cold tap and feels the water get to the right temperature. Turns off the tap. Rolls up the sleeves of her night dress and washes: neck, face and hands. Dries on the towel behind the door. Go and sit in the sitting room and I'll bring in your breakfast, Mother says. Helen walks through the passage to the sitting room. Her father is at the dining table. Tea sipping. Smoking a cigarette. Smoke rises to the ceiling. She gets that dull Monday morning, yuk school, feeling. © 2015 Terry Collett |
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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