Still sleepy with humid heat br she reaches for the kitchen cupboard, br another aspirin to dull the pain. br Damp patches beneath her arms tinged with effort br and over-permed hair that loops above eyes br pale blue, and large as loneliness. br br The air stale with school-bags, polished shoes br and rubbish-bins full of vegetable peelings. br Mum was an ordinary women, br he made her ordinary, br with second-hand slippers flapping on and off at her heels, br she brings the food and wipes away the traces. br Plunging headlong into the beating mixmaster would be br a tragic way for her to die perhaps. br br So she stands-belly bulging br set to a sink of Palmolive bubbles, br day after day to look so pale, br so busted swimming the waves br yet never quite coming to the surface. br He enters silent and earth-stained, br with peasant arms he snakes her heavy waist br and gives her a large white carnation as an apology.