Lillian Reardon

small when I first knew her at 75

hands clubbed with arthritis

soon my grandfather dies, soon

she breaks her hip, survives

the rest of her days a prisoner in a chair

is fed, is bathed, is put to bed

I never knew Mr Jones at all, yet

hated him for eating chops for breakfast

while children ate porridge & prunes

Ma, her fourteen children call her

to us they call her Grandma Jones

I imagine her in bed with him

once Lena, or was it Leah? dies

three months old, failure to thrive

in bed with his insistent demand

they’re Catholic, such a poor excuse

she could have stopped him

then Thelma, the seventh, Thelma

who raged most, did anyone raise her?

Ma lives in the house for 65 years

children taking care of her, did anyone

ask her, before Mr Jones, after Lena

Lillian Reardon, Is this what you want?