The twenty-first poem from my poetry collection Conception. It was shortlisted in Oxfam’s UK Poetry Competition 2004, donated to the charity and included in the anthology Poems for a better future in September 2004.

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This morning

Dressed in your multi-coloured cardi
and boldly balanced on my knees,
your fifteen-month fingers fumble
at the keys in the lock,
looking for freedom.
You try to turn cold metal.
It doesn’t move.
You screw up your face like a hanky and scream,
then try again.
This time it twists a touch.
My eyes water at the certainty of it.
But I hug the future
                            and smile.