A DOMESTIC cameo from Sheena Blackhall's latest pamphlet, The Housewife's Dream:
Poems and Tales in Scots and English (Lochlands, £3).
THE MIGRATION OF MOTHER'S CLOTHES
Every spring my mother's winter clothes
Began their migration to the loft
Her leather gloves,
Like dead swifts' folded wings
Were laid to rest in the press
Her fur lined boots
Like skinned caribou calves
Trekked to the attic floor
Her hats of astrakhan and musquash trim
Were borne up the chilly stairs to their Arctic mausoleum
Her mink coat huddled with its wool and tweedy brethren
In the gloomy entombment of the wardrobe.
Up there in the dark, they were wiped from the mind's slate
The fickle body forgot them
Turned to the breezy pleasures of linen, cotton, nylon, polyester
Up there in the dark, they sulked through summer in shadow
Breathed in mothballs like Lazarus, awaiting resurrection
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article