ALL TAFFETA & TULLE

(For Angie Baby)

Frightened by the storm
he crawls under

his mother’s skirts
all taffeta & tulle

clinging to her
ankles

before falling
asleep

upon her feet.

She continues playing
her cards right

winning all before her

as the candles
gutter

and almost
go out.

She remembers her body
wrapped about him

her flesh
protecting his innocence

as now her dress
encloses his sleeping

unconsciously stroking
his hair

with her
left foot

his dreams now
pooled at her feet.

*

She was a remarkable woman with only a stump for a right arm but could play piano beautifully with her left alone. She also had a talent for  being able to do things with her feet just like you and I would use the hand. I remember her little boy being born and watching him crawl into being a fully fledged tottering walker. There was a great big storm and we were reduced to candlelight and kept on playing cards. Her little boy, for little boy he then was, crawled under the table and fell asleep for comfort at her feet. She continued the card game but stroked his hair with her foot as she played and went on a winning streak A woman doing the fabled multi-tasking but with a unique
difference.

Someone once said why didn't i write that detail about the arm into the poem but this poem wasn't about that and anyway it didn't define her or her life. What was remarkable was the terrible tender gesture of her hushing him to sleep with her foot whilst stroking his hair and...winning hands down. It was the beautiful gesture in the fantastic situation that eclipsed anything else.