Poem
Michael Laskey
NOT BEFORE TIME
NOT BEFORE TIME
NOT BEFORE TIME
I take my dead aunt for a walkdown the lane. How glad she is
to be out in the sun reciting
the names of the wild flowers for me
again — herb robert, mallow, fleabane.
Even thistles and nettles excite her.
How could we do without them?
Where would they lay their eggs,
the painted ladies arriving
from Africa any day now?
© 2008, Michael Laskey
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Michael Laskey
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1944)
Michael Laskey was born in Lichfield in Staffordshire. He read English at St John’s College, Cambridge, and then worked for ten years as a teacher in Spain and England. He has lived in Suffolk since 1978, working as a freelance writing tutor with a wide range of children and adults, and as an arts administrator.
He was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 1989 and directed it ...
He was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 1989 and directed it ...
Poems
Poems of Michael Laskey
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NOT BEFORE TIME
I take my dead aunt for a walkdown the lane. How glad she is
to be out in the sun reciting
the names of the wild flowers for me
again — herb robert, mallow, fleabane.
Even thistles and nettles excite her.
How could we do without them?
Where would they lay their eggs,
the painted ladies arriving
from Africa any day now?
NOT BEFORE TIME
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