things my mother has said to me (Internet Void, October 2020)

things my mother has said to me
published by 'internet void', october 2020

things my mother has said to me, a learner driver, whilst i'm driving:

charlotte don't try and converse with me i'm too frightened

this is the road that girl died on

now would you know what to do if you got stuck behind a combine harvester

turn around i want to go home

linda's volvo fell down that ditch in march 2009

when i learnt to drive my instructor made me do an emergency stop whenever he saw a pretty lady

let's go i actually have lots of things to do at home i'm not making excuses

sees an obstruction 100 metres away charlotte start braking

alright i'll admit i have indeed made a few excuses

travels 22 mph in a 30 zone slow down right now you're not doing the grand prix

my god this was a bad idea

 

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Written a year ago, this is my first piece of published poetry and that fact alone makes me smile. I wrote this quirky list poem as an unserious way of expressing my frustration as a learner driver and the little memories I share with Mother Oakeby, who'd firmly told me I could not submit this anywhere. She was then furious when she found out about this publication. I somehow managed to hide it from her for a month. 

My style of writing poetry has changed drastically since this piece, so now I look back fondly on the Charlotte of the past; the Charlotte who had not yet discovered the Romantics! As always, thank you to Internet Void for publishing my work! You can read it in their journal by clicking here.