The Exact Moment I Became a Poet

“rapping the duster on the easel’s peg half obscured by a cloud of chalk”

tense, domineering, onomatopoeia, unease

“mark my words, you’ll end up in a sewing factory”

harsh, flippant, degrading, uninhibited, contempt

“those words ‘end up’ robbed the work of its dignity'“

“I saw them: mothers, aunts and neighbours trussed like chickens on a conveyor belt”

“the way my granny sewed the sage and onion stuffing into the birds”

“words could pluck you, leave you naked”

“your lovely shiny feathers all gone”