Miss-Thing

 

I Googled her. The name’s different. Specific. Easy to find.

A red top tale told of misadventure. Miss-Thing in leopard skin.

Dark kohl smeared under eyes that look like mine.

Hunted - paparazzi catch a glimpse of her.

I see her for the first time.

 

I don’t know if she wanted me. Was she forced to leave?

It’s what they did then. Bundled into mother & baby homes, unseen.

Hidden, hiding, away from prying eyes. Alone.

Frightened children carrying frightened children.

 

She’s a photograph, words in a newspaper, 2D.

A face on social media, smiling at me.

Not a mother.

She has two daughters, divorced from their father.

Divorced from my father? Three daughters.

All of us, daughters.

 

I am the first.

Does neither of us want the other? A scandal then and after.

Is she impulsive?

Caught out, acting not thinking. Too young to be a mother,

first time, second and third.

A youth corrupted by birth.

With her dark kohl smeared under eyes that look like mine.

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Jane Langan has poems published in the anthology Footprints and Echoes, Blood Kisses and Makarelle Anthology One. She is co-editor of the online literary and creative arts magazine Makarelle. Jane is currently editing her second novel. She has an MA in Creative Writing.

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