Monday's poem

All these women

By Ruth Arnison

He's four and three quarters, and
a big brother

It's not her crying and poohing
that bother him

but the differences. If he burps
Mum gets cross, but

when Annie burps Mum just goes,
what a clever girl

Mum says it's her way of saying
full tanker because

she has no words. He reckons she's
dragging out this

not talking bit just to irritate him,
because after a good burp

there's always a small smile curling
around her lips

Gran says when he smiles, Annie
stops crying. Well,

a boy can't spend all day smiling
He's thinking a lot

about school. He needs to get away
from all these women

Ruth Arnison is a Dunedin poet and editor of Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ).

 

 

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