Helping My Son With His GCSE Poetry Homework

Built like a flanker, swearing like a football-dad
it’s four Weetabix to a bowl,
Fifa scores with strangers
and show-me-the-money demands
while I search for his hoodie.
Any excuse for some joshing, he’s there,
pretending the fridge is a lineout,
sending me crashing with a nudge.
But the six-year-old in him still
grabs at sweeties, Friday night treats.
His last year at primary I shuffled
to keep up with him before chemo,
his questions about death
pricking my eyes, about the time
we stopped kissing goodbye at the gates.

 

 

Anthony Wilson is a poet, writing tutor and lecturer. Riddance is forthcoming from Worple Press in September 2012. Love for Now, a prose memoir, is due from Impress books in the same month. He can be found online at www.anthonywilsonpoetry.com and twitter: @awilsonpoet