Mary darns a moth hole

Two golden cats
Drawing by Katherine using  Microsoft Paint, for her little brother

Mary took out her easy threading needles and some blue thread so she could darn the holes in a favourite old sweater.Not only had a moth been living off it but she had to cut a little  more off when her mini shoulderbag had got its buckle stuck in the sweater.
What are you doing,Annie asked her?
Annie,I didn’t know you were here.How did you manage to get in.Have you got a key??
No,I climbed on my flat roof and in through your bathroom, window Annie admitted furtively
But why, cried Mary, as she noted Annie was wearing a blue jumper rather larger than normal, covered in  a print of ladybirds and spiders.
I just wanted to feel young again,Annie told her.
I never knew you were a burglar!
I didn’t steal things,I did it to keep fit!
Supppose the government advised people to break into houses  just to get some exercise?Would that be moral? asked Mary
Well, it would make us close the windows ,I imagine.I admit if Donald Trump climbed through my window I would be very anxious Annie admitted
Oh, don’t worry.It’s just cats he like to grab,Mary informed her
Cats? Is Melania a cat? asked Mary
I expect she is catty with him , Annie whispered
Well, thank the Lord he never assaults women,Mary muttered
Why does the Lord allow other women to be raped  or to have their clitorises cut off?Annie pondered
I say, thank the Lord, but I suppose I don’t mean it.As you say how can he allow all these evils?He must be less omnipotent than we were taught,Mary decided
Can one have degrees of omnipotence?~Annie enquired
I am unsure.I shall have to muse.But you can get a degree in omnipotence,Mary said roguishly
How?
Well, how much maths does a third class  degree confer on a person?
They got 40 % in their exams, Annie murmured
So if we have a  third class degree in omnipotence, we are omnipotent about 40 % of the time! First class about 70 %.Mary stuttered
I find it worrying that  a doctor  might qualify  when she  or he has only got 40 % in anatomy or in   heart murmurs.Not to mention the brain.
Do  they even have to know where it is?
Probably not, the women decided.
Emile was smiling his cat grin because he had phoned 999 and here was Dave running up the garden path wearing a jumper exactly like Annie’s   over a red spotted skirt from Cotswold Connections Sale and some purple trainers from TKMaxx with socks covered in squares a la Mondrian.
Will Mary be angry?Will she want a blue jumper too?
Well so will  all of us

The memory of Dunwich Heath:a triolet

The memory of Dunwich Heath
The birds so rare, the sea so near
The  broken marble  on the beach
The  inner fires, the burning Heath
The trees that hunch, the wind so East
The savaged,polished rocks now dear
The sacred life of languid heath

The words we heard when we  learned how to swear

The pleated skirts that teachers  used to wear
The tight permed hair, the handbag and the pearls
The words we heard when we  learned how to swear

With words we threw out what we could not bear
Then simpered by the window lips uncoiled
The fleeing minds that we dare not declare

The worst came out and everybody stared
My head was turned, inside my mind  still whirled
The  muck we heard when we first  had to swear

Now we wear   our jeggings, pleats are rare
Yet there’s elegance in skirts that   swirl
Depleted teens  with beauty gone awry

We did some Hardy and into Shakespeare tore
Now we read  Ted Hughes and  Sylvia’s pearls
The  midden  reeks,hate makes the goldfish swear.

The gold rimmed glasses in the mist and murk
The  hairnets, the control, the constrained smirk
The worn out books, the  turning   of the years
The words of joy  and woe, we learn our  prayer