Diana Hendry is one of the most impressive poets currently working in Scotland.
Her collection of New and Selected Poems, The Seed-box Lantern (Mariscat, £10) has a wide range of material, including her responses to nineteenth-century translations into Scots of the biblical psalms. Here is one of her new pieces.
OTHER MOTHERS
Sarah's I'd have liked. Elegant ,
cultured, a film and art buff,
at ninety taking a glass of champagne
as a pick-me-up.
Or Henry's. Nifty stitcher of patchwork quilts,
sender of perfectly chosen post-cards,
knitter of multi-coloured mittens, dedicated
to the art of being useful.
Or maybe Di's. A sea-captain's wife,
sex on stilettos, rosy and risque,
bobbing up behind her cocktail bar
plump on sherry and joie de vivre.
Ah but there was mine
with her cool upper arms, her wedding band
that could heal a stye and her perpetual question -
What's the point? What's the point?
Mother, I'm still asking.
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