IN MRS CLARKE'S WAKE.

A BOY AND GIRL IN HER MOTHER AND SHOPPING IN 1955.

Mrs Clarke pushed

her battered bassinet

between market stalls

 

not listening

to the stallholder’s

shouts and calls

 

Helen walked behind her mother

as told holding your hand

So I know where you are

 

Mrs Clarke had said

you sensed

Helen’s small hand

 

in yours

her seven year old skin

touching your

 

seven year old flesh

her thin fingers

encircling yours

 

We’ll see if they’ve got

a school skirt

for you here

 

her mother said

turning back her head

Helen nodded

 

and you noticed

Helen’s enlarged eyes

behind her thick lens

 

spectacles

searching her mother’s

large behind waddling on

 

stopping now and then

beside stalls

picking up clothes

 

searching for a skirt or dress

grey and the right size

Helen whispered to you

 

putting her head

close to yours

Rice pudding for tea

 

when we get home

with red jam

and sugar too

 

if you want

and she smiled

and you said shyly

 

That’s good

because I’m starving

she looked at your hand

 

in hers and said

Then we can play

mums and dads

 

and my dolls

can be our family

her mother stopped

 

and picked up a skirt

and held it up

to the light

 

then held it against

her daughter’s waist

judging for size

 

and you watched

her mother’s hands

red with washing

 

and cleaning

thinking and gauging

the size and cost

 

as you studying

Helen’s hand in yours

like a soul lost.