She stood below us, looking up.
White face, dark glasses, tilted chin.
"Is there owt you want? I'm going to the shop."
Oh, thin. Too thin.

She drew the shades off, offered up her smile:
Perky, imploring, tremulous.
The wild, white face of an exhausted child.
She wanted nothing but to be of use,
To anyone. To us.

She wanted not to be "that dippy girl,
One of the crazy crew that squat next door",
Damaged and damned. Frail as a paper doll,
She offered him herself one night last year.
"I'll make a meal and we can go to bed.
I've always fancied you," that's what she said.

He, tickled pink, resisting, could not see
It was her only currency.
I, anxious for my own survival,
Recognized only hunger for approval.

Lofty now, vantaged on the topmost step,
I reach to drop coins in the palm stretched up.
"A bottle of dry white - screw top - please, Pet."
She totters off - that cocky, knock-kneed strut
On legs like straws - and she is singing, singing - yet
I long, oh how I long to rise and call
The truth: we have no blessings we can spare.
We have no wisdom to bestow like pearls.
We have done nothing to admire.
We have lived longer, that is all.

Pam, enjoyed this very much. Reminds me of one of my favorite poems, "Manuelzinho" by Eliz. Bishop. Tom

dear Pam

curious about

owt you want ?


a search came up with

dialect England
variant ofAUGHT


Owt
Acronym   Definition
OWT   Omega World Travel (travel agency)
OWT   One World Trust (London, UK)
OWT   Overweight (finance)
OWT   Old Wives Tale
OWT   Operation Warrior Trainer (US Army)
OWT   Organisation, Work & Technology
OWT   One World Tree (genealogy)
OWT   Orthogonal Wavelet Transform
OWT   One World Telecom
OWT   Offshore Wind Turbine (EU)
OWT   One-Way-Travel
OWT   Oily Waste Transfer
OWT   Operator Work Time
OWT   One Way Transfer
OWT   Over Weight Truck
OWT   Oconee Waste Transport, Inc. (Watkinsville, GA)

Ah, Silent Lotus, tha mun visit North o' England. You were reet fust time. Owt means anything.

Thanks, Tom, I'll look her up. Pam

PS Your list of abbreviations is a poem in itself!

Nice portrait.

Rick

Thanks, Rick!
Pam

wonder if a contraction in the last line?

"We have lived longer, that is all."    into

We have lived longer, that's all.

lovely piece.....I would have picked it if it wasn't already here.

M

Hello, Michelle. Let's give it a go:

The truth: we have no blessings we can spare.
We have no wisdom to bestow, like pearls.
We have done nothing to admire.
We have lived longer, that's all.

I like it! It's more mournful, resigned, the first way. This way is almost flippant, but despairing too. Thank you!

Welcome, Pam.

Thank you.


d





.

Thanks, Dax!
Pam

fine write, pam.

ld

Thanks, Lynn!

I must send this around for another read.  And add "Really" to my earlier "fine write" comment.

ld

Thanks, Lynn. I might cut there and just have "Is owt you want?" which scans better.

Pam

Hi Pam.  this is very fine.  Much enjoyed and twinged at the description of Abby's neediness.  All show no tell.  Excellent.

Two edit thoughts, Pam, rereading this fine poem: "that's what" before "she said" sounds odd, and here:

He, tickled pink, resisting, could not see
It was her only currency.
I, anxious for my own survival,
Recognized only hunger for approval.

the first half of the S suggests it was her only currency, the 2nd half that it wasn't, so what's going on in this S is a bit murky to me.

Tom

Hi Tom. I wondered whether to remove the couplet about making a meal and going to bed altogether. It was her only currency... hunger for approval. What I'm trying to say is that all she wants is approval and going to bed with people is what she's been programmed to think is the only way to get it. Not clear enough. I'll have a think. Thanks!

Hi, Sue. Thanks! The poor lass is currently having a rest in a hospital in Leeds....

Pam

Pam, I wouldn't remove it. This part - "anxious for my own survival" - adds a lot. The S is about N's marriage, but what it's saying could be clarified maybe. Tom

I see Tom's point, but I like the murky clarity.

Thanks, Tom, thanks, Lynn. I wonder if skipping the second "only" would do the trick.

He, tickled pink, resisting, could not see
It was her only currency.
I, anxious for my own survival,
Recognized hunger for approval.

Better?

Yes, I think so, Pam--removes that confusion and clarifies/deepens the characterization of the N. Tom

Thanks, Tom, thanks, everyone. I think between us, we've got it sussed.
Pam

Thanks, Quentin. I'm looking forward to reading your work.

Pam