ATHENA’S BOOK

THE WINDOW

We listened to a radio broadcast from 1938

A mother asked
Was my child only born to be buried?

I looked out of the window
of the upper room —
is that a kestrel
sitting on a roll of barbed wire?

I looked at Athena now

She tried the pills
took the cures
talked to the doctors
and to the spirit world

Now she’s back here —
seven miles from the sea