my mother was a slut

 

who liked cute babies

and went on marches

to ban the bomb

 

her own mother

named her so

for leading men on

with her ration book stockings

and sooty eyes

 

I knew her

as a gentle woman

who never looked her father in the eye

nor my father

though she wasn't shy

 

we drew on the walls

and bed sheets that hung on the line

trusting

that she wouldn't mind

and she didn't

as she worked on her taggy nails

 

my mother was a slut

her mother said

but

she liked me

and my sister

but most of all

she loved holidays

and men