7 DECEMBER 1991, Page 40

The Househusband Away on Poetry Business

It's the first morning off for an age, With no one to please but my shadow: I could watch a pink morning uncage And smoke a cigar at the window, Be that middle-aged poet at large With a mug of sweet tea at my elbow.

I could stay in this bed half-awake, For there's nobody trumpeting DAAAADDY!

I don't have to make chocolate milk And I don't have to read bloody Noddy; If I fancy a turn in the park Then there's nobody else to get ready.

No fingers to shut in the door, No last-minute search for a welly, No potty upturned on the floor, So I'll pig it here watching the telly, With no one to face the day for No Mummy, no Katie, no Ellie.

John Whitworth