JUDITH Viorst is a witty American poet and social commentator. Her poems first appeared in book form, in 1968, in It’s Hard To Be Hip Over Thirty. Here is a sample from that collection, now reissued, with later material (Persephone Books, London, £10).

A VISIT FROM MY MOTHER-IN-LAW

My mother-in-law

Comes to visit

With her own apron,

Her own jar of Nescafe,

And the latest news.

Uncle Leo,

She’s sorry to say,

Is divorcing Aunt Pearl,

Whose sister Bernice

Is having

A nervous breakdown.

The week

That they spent in Miami

It rained every day,

And her health,

Though she isn’t complaining,

Has never been worse.

The lady upstairs

With the limp

Was attacked in broad daylight,

And Seymour her nephew

Has cataracts, flu,

And no job.

My husband,

She thinks she should mention,

Looks thin as a rail,

And the children,

It hurts her to hear,

Are coughing again.

Belle’s son,

Only forty years old

Dropped dead Friday morning,

And don’t even bother

To ask

About Cousin Rose.

I don’t think I will.