Photo by Rachel Bunting Copyright 2008

Far More Hers Than Hislisten

When John and Liz’s firstborn died of SIDS
And, five years on, their hopes of more had flopped,
Instead of giving up on having kids
They chose to go to China and adopt.
Another expedition, then a third
And, lo! they were a family of five
Whose mother was routinely overheard
Declaring them the happiest alive.

But John, at forty, fell in love with Kate
(Nineteen of course) and told the shattered Liz
That she could have the car and real estate
And – well, the girls were far more hers than his….
He’s father, now, to Joey, Jeff and Jim
Who (everybody says it) look like him.

by Peter Austin

Peter Austin lives with his wife and three daughters in Toronto, where he teaches English at Seneca College. Over a hundred of his poems have been published, in magazines and anthologies in the USA (including The New Formalist, Contemporary Sonnet, The Lyric, Iambs & Trochees, Chimaera and Road not Taken), Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel and Germany. As well as poetry, he writes plays, and his musical adaptation of The Wind in the Willows has enjoyed four productions, the most recent in July '07, in Worcester, Massachusetts.


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