This Will Grab You Hard
Like the midwife over fifty years ago,
like your mother when you were about to
step off, like the bully’s hand around your
balls, like the girl who always played kiss-chase.
Like those lines the teacher read – you remember
them still – from Palgrave’s Golden Treasury,
like the news that you had won a place, like
teenage testosterone baseball-booting in.
Like the song, heard again, your lover sang,
like the moment your wife said Yes, like her
anchoring clutch as the baby was born,
like the hair-gripping child on your shoulders as you ran.
Like the time you heard him say my old man
with unguarded love in his voice. Like
the moment of goodbye. Like the odd pupil
coming back to say thanks, like the face that caught
you unawares and haunted you for years;
like the opening bars of Britten’s cello
suite, like first seeing your poems in print –
like the paramedic straightening up.
Page(s) 55
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