Poems about my childhood

POEMS ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD

Sue Lyle

I was born in 1950 and grew up in Middlesex in a working class nuclear family that included me, my parents and my younger brother. We lived in my parents’ home town and my mother’s two sisters and their families lived nearby as did her parents. My father’s mother also lived nearby – she was my Nan. These poems reflect some of my memories of growing up.

These poems are inspired by  the poems of Michael Rosen. 

MY NAN

COURTING

When they were courting

My Mum sat on my Dad’s knee in his mother’s front room

My Nan came in

‘I’m sure you’d be much more comfortable on the chair Kathleen dear’.

My mother never forgot that.

SUNDAY LUNCH WITH MY NAN

Before we go:

You can’t wear your bell-bottomed trousers to your nan’s

They remind her of sailors – the scum of the earth

You can’t wear that mini-skirt

If you bend over everyone will know what you had for breakfast

I don’t care if it is a Biba dress.

It looks like a maternity smock – she’ll think you’re in the family way.

Just wear a nice dress

ON THE WAY TO SUNDAY LUNCH WITH MY NAN

Every six weeks we went to my dad’s mum for Sunday lunch

It would start in the car

           

I won’t be able to eat the cabbage

Anyway there’s no point in eating cabbage that’s been boiled for two hours – there’s no vitamins left.

Why can’t your mother heat the plates – I can’t stand cold food

If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s cold lamb –

why does she carve it an hour before we eat it?

I mean, what’s the point – a roast dinner should be hot

Not cold meat with lukewarm gravy

Why do we always have lamb?

‘Don’t make a fuss says’ my dad, ‘she does her best’

            That’s not the point

            I like to enjoy my Sunday dinner

DURING SUNDAY LUNCH AT MY NAN’S

At my Nan’s for Sunday lunch Mum picks at her dinner

‘Don’t you like your dinner Kathleen,’ says my Nan

‘I prefer my dinner hot’ says my mum

‘It’s lovely’ says dad

‘Yes, lovely’ I say

My brother looks from mum to dad and says nothing.

AFTER SUNDAY LUNCH WITH MY NAN

My brother and I have to sit in the front room

Dad falls asleep in the chair

Nan reads the Sunday papers

Mum reads Woman’s Own

And sighs

We have to be ‘seen and not heard’

We’re not allowed out to play ‘cos it’s Sunday

MY NAN’S LEGACY

My nan was from Devon

She made Devonshire puddings

Not Yorkshire’s, but Devonshire’s

Devonshire’s are my Nan’s most enduring legacy

I learnt to make Devonshire’s from my nan

All my children can make Devonshire’s

Whenever we have a roast the cry goes up

Are we having Devonshire’s?

Devonshire’s say the uninitiated, don’t you mean Yorkshire’s?

No Devonshire’s, they’re made with suet, they are crunchy on the outside,

Soft on the inside, my mum’s Nan made them, she was from Devon.

I have never met anyone who doesn’t love Devonshire’s – thanks Nan.

MY MUM

TEA

If you didn’t like the tea someone made you

You would walk to the sink and throw it away

‘I wish you wouldn’t do that.’ said my father

‘I’m sorry, but I’m not drinking stewed tea

I’d rather make it myself’

And you did.

FOOD AND FRIENDS

My mother judged my friends by what they ate

At Adele’s house we made

            Vesta prawn curry and

            Butterscotch Instant Whip

            Lovely.

‘What did you have for tea?’ my mother would ask.

           

‘Lamb chop, peas and potatoes’

‘Mmm, lovely,’ she’d reply.

FOOD AND FRIENDS 2

I don’t want you going to Sheryl Stein’s house

            Why not?

            Why?

            She’s my friend

            I like her

I’m not having you eating beans on toast every time.

We don’t eat from tins in this house

She can come here and have a proper tea if you like

But you’re not going there.

Sheryl Stein’s parents got divorced

They were the only family we knew that got divorced

‘I’m not surprised,’ said my mother

‘She dyed her hair red.’

MAKING LUNCH

My mother shopped every day

‘Your father likes fresh food on his plate’

Up to Kingshill Avenue

            Butcher

            Greengrocer

            Baker

            Grocer

Come home, cook a proper lunch

And a pudding

Lovely puddings

            Roly Poly

            Spotted Dick

            Lemon sponge with lemon sauce

            Raspberries with junket

            Bread and butter pudding

            Apple pie

            Suet pudding

            Lemon meringue

            Trifle

            Baked apple

            Treacle tart

            Jam sponge with custard

Comfort food.

LUNCHTIMES

Lunch in our house went like this:

            Monday – Cold meat and pickles, mash

            Tuesday – Shepherd’s pie

            Wednesday – Liver and bacon casserole

            Thursday – Stuffed hearts

            Friday – Fish and chips (home made)

            Saturday – Chops, mash and gravy

            Sunday – Roast

For tea in winter we had:

            Egg on toast

            Cod’s roe on toast

            Cheese on toast

            Sausage or bacon rolls

In summer we had:

            Tomato and salad cream sandwiches

            Egg sandwiches

            Cheese sandwiches

            Paste sandwiches

           

And cake:

            Sponge cake

            Fruit cake

            Marble cake

            Fairy cakes

            Madeira cake

           

All home made.

MY MOTHER DIDN’T WORK

My mother didn’t work

Everyday she made breakfast

Took us to school

Made the beds

Went shopping

Cooked lunch

Washed up

Hoovered through

In winter she also:

            Lit the fire

            Stoked up the boiler

            Fetched in the coal and coke

Hung our clothes around the fire to warm up

Boiled water on the stove and took it upstairs for our wash

On Mondays she also

            Did the washing in her twin-tub

On Tuesday she

Did the ironing before her sisters came to visit

On Wednesday

She did the polishing and scrubbed the floors

On Thursday

            She did the big shop

On Friday her mum came to tea.

Saturday was baking day

Sunday we went to the country after lunch for some fresh air

My mum didn’t work

MY MUM’S JOB

When my brother and I were both at secondary school

My mother got a little job.

Serving in a sweet shop.

She liked helping the children choose their penny sweets

She came home on her second day

The house was for sale

‘If you want to work you can get your own place

We’ll sell the house and buy two flats

You can be independent’

My mother only worked in the shop for a week

My dad didn’t sell the house.

THE COFFEE TABLE

Aunty Joyce had a G-plan suite

My mother saved from her housekeeping

She bought a G-plan coffee table

It was her table

She bought it from her savings

One day I came home from school

My mother was crying

My little brother had been ‘helping’ with the housework

He’d polished the G-plan coffee table with sand paper

‘Like Daddy!’

BOARDING SCHOOL

Oh, hello

My mother was using her telephone voice.

           

Is that the boarding school?

            Yes, that’s right

            A girl and a boy

            You can take them

            Next week

            Oh good’

Me and my brother on the stairs

            Sorry mum

            Sorry mum

            We’ll be good

            We promise

            Don’t send us to boarding school

            We’ll be good

            Promise

            Please don’t

Mum:

            You can take them next week

I notice she has her fingers on the buttons

She’s pretending to phone

‘You’ve got your fingers on the buttons’, I say

           

            Next time, I mean it, she says.

MY MUM’S SAYINGS

About my Dad’s Mum: She’s a cold fish

Reason for not cuddling me:

I don’t like bread and bread, I like bread and butter

When something went missing:

It’s disappeared off the face of the earth

When something bad happened to me

That’s your bad fairy

When I wanted something

Do you think money grows on tress?

When I was naughty

You’ll be the death of me

MY MUM’S NICE SISTER

When I was 10

Aunty Betty came to see me in hospital

‘I’m in the family way’ she said.

‘Oh, Aunty Betty’ I said

‘You’re having a baby’.

MY MUM’S SCARY SISTER

Aunty Joyce was scary

Her house was perfect

Aunty Joyce was perfect

When I baby-sat for Aunty Joyce

I broke a glass

I wrapped it in newspaper and hid it in my bag and took it home.

Aunty Joyce phoned my mother.

‘Joyce says there’s a glass missing

Do you know anything about it?’

‘No’, I said

‘You must know, Joyce says it was definitely there before you went to babysit.’

‘Nothing to do with me.’ I said.

LEAVING

We never knew if she knew

The doctors didn’t tell her

We didn’t tell her

In the last couple of weeks I dreaded her asking

What would I say?

After she went we realised she did know

She had coffee with a neighbour the day before she died

‘He’ll never have an apple pie like mine’ she said.

‘I’m not leaving the recipe.’

MY GRANDMOTHER

 HOW ARE YOU?

‘How are you?’ I’d say to my grandmother

‘Don’t ask’ she’d say

And then she’d tell me

MY GRANDMOTHER 2

My grandmother’s response to any disaster was always the same:

‘Well at least you’re not in the family way’.

I think she said it to make us feel better.

MY BROTHER

FISHING

My father took my brother fishing

They grew their own maggots in rotting meat in the shed

One day my brother was so angry with me

He grabbed the rotting meat and threw the maggots all over me

Now when I walk by the fishermen on the river

I can’t walk past the tins of wriggling maggots

I just can’t do it.

HOME ALONE

When my brother was six he got chicken pox

My mother had to shop everyday for fresh food

‘I’ll be back in a few minutes’ she said.

She came back.

The furniture was turned upside down

My brother was lying on the floor

A knife was sticking out of his pyjamas

He was covered in tomato sauce

‘You shouldn’t have left me’ he said.

MY FATHER

LOOKING GOOD

My father used to say,

‘Well, you can doll yourself up

Make yourself look good

But when you open your mouth

They’ll know

You come from the gutter’

MY DAD’S SAYINGS

Life is hard and then you die.

Whoever told you life was fair.

I go to work to earn the money to buy the food to give me the strength to go to work.

Hard work never killed anyone

When I was your age…

You don’t know you’re born

MY DAD

My husband took the baby to change her nappy

My dad said:

            Your mother was a wonderful wife.

I never even saw a dirty nappy let alone change one.

ON HOLIDAY

We went on holiday to Yarmouth

We in a caravan stayed on a farm

My dad and brother went mackerel fishing

I stayed on the farm with Mr. and Mrs. Saetch

Mrs Saetch made lovely apple pie with ice cream

My dad and brother caught lots of fish

My mother cooked them in the caravan

They didn’t let me have any

I had eaten apple pie and ice cream and

‘would be sick’.

FAILURE

I failed my 11+

When they told us that day

 – the failing day

I was afraid to go home

When I got home they already knew

A letter had come

‘You’d better get to bed

Before your father comes home’

And I didn’t get a bike.