In The Voice of the Story II
let me tell you how it goes
once upon a time
her mother hadn’t the heart
to scold her hadn’t the heart
to hold her hadn’t the heart
to lift her out of the car seat
alone hadn’t the heart
to say at the lake a woman
sits folded at the waist
not knowing how to live in this world
with its girls jumping off roofs to save themselves
once a woman was killed by a circus clown
who picked her up by the ankles and swung her
round and round
she hadn’t the heart to say
that everything male is made of glass
that the father is a windowpane
Congratulations to Amelia Loulli, winner of the Seamus Heaney Prize for Slip on Monday 7 July! Her book Slip is available to be ordered on our website with 25% off for all PBS members!