Yoga

For you, with your toddler bendiness,
the squat is a natural, easy position
while I hurt-strain, thinking of miners
crouched outside their front doors
on terraced streets, practising every day
in the cramped conditions of their work
until the body adjusted and it became
normal, like living without daylight
and breathing dust, just as we inhale
fumes, drink micro plastics and sieved
sewage without a second’s hesitation.

Forget all that, quiet my whirring brain,
show me how to bow to the animals,
down-dog and cat-cow, rear up together
like cobras, soar into eagles or graceful
cranes flying. Steady each other. My balance
is better than yours for now, though not
my equilibrium. Let us build bridges, cross
legs, fold palms in namaste, look backwards
between our legs, marvel at the topsy-turvy
world and lie side by side, gripping our toes
while I learn from you how to be happy baby.

Maggie Brookes-Butt is a novelist and poet. Her six poetry collections (as Maggie Butt) are coming together in a New and Selected in January. Her Penguin Random House historical novels are published as Maggie Brookes. Insta: Maggie__Brooke.