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).