Fur Coat and No Knickers By Louise G Cole

Louise G Cole is a poet and writer from Co Roscommon and the new winner of THE Hennessy Literary Awards

Fur Coat and No Knickers

Drawing breath between tales of dead

little brothers and elderly neighbours

moved away, my mother looks inside

a lifetime that’s 92 and counting,

claims no-one’s visited for months,

thinks I’m her cousin Betty

with designs on her fur coat and hopes

of borrowing a fiver.

I try not to mind the care home smell

and wonder what else to talk about when

the devil himself taps my shoulder

suggests I unburden, reveal secrets

never before shared, so I offer a revelation:

I lost my virginity four times

before I was married. She’s never yet listened to me

so it is no surprise she doesn’t hear,

continues with a rattle about imagined walks

in the park yesterday, shopping

trips she’ll make next week.

A carer comes to tuck her in,

brings weak tea and egg sandwiches,

asks if I’d like some,

is relieved when I decline.

I get up to leave and the frail old cripple

who used to be my mother

spills her tea and demands

to know when cousin Betty intends returning

the fur coat, says quietly: ‘I always knew

what a little whore you were’.

Her Blog

Follow her poetry on her blog: https://louisegcolewriter.wordpress.com/