They sounded like
fairytales,
stories that Mum told
of lost fortunes, drunk men
and moonlight flits –
resourcefulness demanded
in those interwar years.
Before then too:
great-grandmother Rose,
jobbing actress, sneaking
babies in baskets
into dressing rooms –
or her mother, Ann,
standing on the dock
in Liverpool, newly arrived
from famine-wasted Ireland
not knowing how
they’d ever make ends meet.
And on the stairs now,
pictures –
mother, grandmother,
daughter –
here and in the
ascendant.
8 March is both International Women's Day and Mother's Day in Bulgaria.
Images: Marina Shiderova; text: Tom Phillips
