Portrait
She is not abstract:
blond-brown hair
blue-grey eyes
almond-coloured rosewood-scented skin.
She has never been very complicated:
crying comes easy
she can laugh at herself
love is her favourite emotion.
With a bic blue pen she seeks only to change the world
in a page and a half during the twenty minutes that her baby sleeps.
She sits in the sunroom with her eyes half-closed
full-breasted and hip-burdened
unshowered and unashamed
uninformed of the latest movies and unaware of the new restaurants
avoiding themes of domestication
and words that rhyme with mother.
“Being at home can be fun, insulating, relaxed, boring or isolating ... depending on how the day is going.”*
School holidays are almost over in my part of the world – six long weeks of noise and squabbling balanced by hot, lazy days at the beach or the pool with lots of daring exploits and laughter. Many of our days were spent at home, basking in simple pleasures like baking, playing games or outdoor pursuits – trying to relax the everyday routines of school-morning bustle and ‘having to be somewhere on time’. However pleasant, I must admit to being relieved that life gets back to normal next week, and I can reclaim some of my own time for writing again!
* From Being Mummy by Anne‑marie Taplin published April 2007