Sir Roger Douglas says the things politicians daren’t say
“One of the most significant figures of the post-war world”
So he struggles at school
because
recognising a whole word
and guessing what it means
from the context of the sentence is not easy
when you’re six
But there is a picture book to help him
One picture shows a farmer
riding to town on his horse
We know that’s what the picture is about
because the caption says:
“Farmer rides to town on his horse”
The boy looks at this
and confidently reads: “The horse likes
the farmer
riding him.”
*
Maria was the treasure of the family,
the princess
But then her father was sent to jail
and a new man moved in
She is vulnerable to sexual abuse
because of her mother’s
neglect
Her role model is her half-sister who is pregnant
again, tattooed,
jobless, living
on welfare
Her brother has been forced out of the house
by beatings and abuse
His standard of living has improved
by going
on the street
He sniffs glue
and this makes him stupid
