Argyll
Asked there by an art-school friend
To support her during an unhappy marriage.
Arguments -
He was like a lawyer and always won.
The manor-house on a spit
Of land at one end of the bay.
Now a hotel.
‘I’ve given you Uncle Eddy’s room.
You’d have liked him.’
I later heard he was gay, and had committed suicide.
I felt inadequate. Unable to help.
So I used to do the endless washing-up.
Bottles of gin discovered behind the curtain.
She tried so many times to leave.
Even swallowing open safety-pins.
She succeeded in the end, years later.
But I did my best water-colour there.
Squatting on the shore. A sunset scene
Washed in very quickly
Because of the stinging midges
Driving me indoors.
It hangs in my hall today.
Another picture hangs in my mind’s eye.
A photo. A little ballet-dancer
On her toes and aged seven.
Looking so forlorn.
Page(s) 64
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