BOOK LEARNING.

A GIRL AND HER STRICT MOTHER AND BOOK LEARNING.

Sit on the stone step and
Read Mama says do not
Interrupt me while I am
Busy and Minnie looks

At the book and at the
Words and the pictures
And turns a page and
Looks at that too but

She would rather be
Playing with her dolls
Or going outside and
Running or playing with

The other children but
Mama says no the children
Are too rough and rude
And it’s better to sit and

Read because that way
You will learn many things
And leave the other children
Behind with their dumb

Games and rag dolls and
The climbing of trees or
Picking of fruit from apple
Orchards which is forbidden

And so Minnie scans the page
And brushes her hand across
To rid it of dust and take in
The words the black print on

The white page the coloured
Pictures and so she recites
To herself audibly and Mama
Says quietly Minnie read

Quietly can’t you see I am
Busy and cannot focus if you
Read aloud to me and the
Stone step is cold and damp

And the last time she sat
On the step too long she
Had piles and Mama scolded
Her and sent her to bed and

She had to lie on her bed in
The dark without light or
Supper and the sight of bats
Swooping by the window and

The rustle of branches touching
The windowpane and only a moon
And a few cold stars for company
And now turning a page too quickly

It tears and a rip appears and she
Hides it from her mother’s eyes
Lest she get scolded again and sent
To bed with a beaten bottom and no

Supper and the swooping bats so she
Turns the page back again and pretends
To lean closer to read a difficult word
Or scrutinize a picture and aware that

Her mother’s eyes like hawk’s eyes
Will swoop over her every now and
Then and the crime detected and the
Whole drama of reading and learning

And the cold step and the fear of
Piles and punishment now makes
Her sit and pretend to understand
And strike the pose of thinking

Hard and deep as her father does
Over meals and tries to put out of
Her mind just how painful the piles
Are and how the punishment feels.

Reviews

[just rose.]

You do seem to have gotten inside her little head and tentative face here. I like the plain nature of the more subtle emotions - expressed the way a child would.