‘We Speak’ is a poem for mums and dads. As parents, our days are already tightly bound by routine – early starts, healthy meals at sensible intervals, drop offs and pick ups, not so early bedtimes and middle of the night calls . . . Since lockdown and the closure of schools, our time has shrunk down further still.

‘We Speak’ moves towards a moment of togetherness for parents at the end of the day, whilst following the parallel track of a child’s language development.  As we delight in our children’s progress and celebrate them finding their voices, it is important not to lose our own.  Without that means of expression and without a connection to each other as a couple, the family unit is incomplete.

We Speak

It’s a mystery, how the mind upscales
from primitive sound
to intricate, webbed sentence,

catches the listening ear;

word on word torrents,
the kind that stream on late nights
when light dips under eyelids.

Hands find each other
and sides align, looking
for union in this timely space.

When the day has drained
to a few specks of moment;
we speak and we are heard.

K. S. Moore

Photo by Geoff Livingston on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND