.
Arrival
When my mother arrived,
no one would sign for her,
left out like a parcel
on a stranger’s doorstep.
Bundle of birth, fly-tipped,
swathed in a linen bag
stamped ‘Tate and Lyle sugar’
seven lbs too heavy.
No mobile, just rain clouds,
her lips sapphire blue,
tiny lungs like strawberries
full of pneumonia.
.
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Richie McCaffery was born in Newcastle in 1986 and is a Carnegie scholar at the University of Glasgow researching the Scottish poets of WW2 towards a Ph.D. He has been writer in residence at both Cromarty, during the Sir Thomas Urquhart symposium and at Brownsbank Cottage, the last home of Hugh MacDiarmid. His first pamphlet collection is entitled ‘Spinning Plates’ from HappenStance Press and his second pamphlet, ‘Ballast Flint’ is due out next year. In 2012 he was also shortlisted for an Eric Gregory Award.
Abegail Morley 