Poem of the week: Morning With Four Children

The espresso machine gives its chug chug.

Emily who’s two demands an Easter egg

but it’s breakfast time and despite her begging

the answer's No! Her argument is dug

into the table with her plastic mug:

What’s the stupid difference? An egg’s an egg!

Five year old John announces Eh guh guh spells egg.

How do you spell HOW DO YOU SPELL? he shrugs.

And as the infant milk heats by degrees

and the twins in their pram unite with a cry

the coffee machine releases a high

cloud of steam, and the glass for the juice

(submerged in deep suds in the sink) is teased

by the gin on the shelf: You've more than one youth and use!

Clodagh Beresford Dunne's previous poem published in this slot, Seven Sugar Cubes, was chosen as Listowel Writers' Week Poem of the Year.

Clodagh Beresford Dunne’s previous poem was chosen as Listowel Writers’ Week Poem of the Year