Ma's Going Deaf

                                                              Picture: Google

Ma's going deaf,
they'd said
when she'd missed
the cooker
hiss its secret.

The clock had howled
and been upset
but she'd not tended
to it.

She was cruel
to the doorbell,
mean, to the phone-
wouldn't even quell
her child's moan.

They say
she's unwell,
had always been.

Ma's only a looker,
she hears nothing.

She's tamed the dogs
that barked,
she's tamed larks
into a muteness.

She's a brute
who's killed it all.

The sounds have gone
with her,
they can tell.

"Is it so?" I want to ask,
but I sell them a
'very well'.

I hear music
beyond the wall.

I think I know
what she's found
by achieving deafness.