Couple

When my mother spoke, he ignored her.

When she did not speak, he ignored her.

When she spoke of him, she called him Your-father

as if the fault were mine. It was mine, I knew,

because I loved him, and he did not love her,

and she could not love him; my love not enough

to mend it. I did bring them light,

they looked at me and saw some light

in my A’s at school, my poems, my clumsy music

and they took it into their hearts that were starved of love.

I still say to them, look! I’ve been doing this, and this.

Esther Ottaway

Esther Ottaway is an Australian poet shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize 2020. Her poetry features in Thirty Australian Poets and in leading newspapers, literary journals and anthologies. Her book Blood Universe: poems on pregnancy was critically acclaimed. Her second collection is due in 2021, with a third collection, She Doesn’t Seem Autistic, forthcoming. She lives in Tasmania.