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28th March, 2025

Friday Poem – ‘On Mother’s Day’ by Vanessa Lampert

Close up photo of flowering yellow primroses

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘On Mother’s Day’ by Vanessa Lampert from her collection Say It With Me.

On Mother’s Day He invites his mother for lunch. The house hums with quiet hope. It’s in the food he’s bought, and in the words of songs on the radio. He polishes the windows until his arm throbs. Expectation sparks at the tip of the match. He lights the candle and its flame carries the scent of oranges. He takes the rugs into the garden and shakes them. Hope is there too, tired old thing refreshed. He hasn’t seen his mother since she died when he was eleven. Her absence has hovered low over his life. But as he watches her walk slowly up the path, he feels spent sorrow peel away like dry skin. Later he will expect to find flakes inside his clothes, but there will be nothing. At first his mother doesn’t speak but holds his grown man face in her hands. His beard is between the spread of her fingers and she looks up at him with her eyes an ancient wet blue. My boy. She straightens his glasses. All morning they chat with her in the chair by the window where the light falls as he moves about preparing food; meat with rich gravy, dumplings, runner beans, cabbage, roast potatoes, the kind of food they last ate together. At the table they sit opposite one another. Both eat everything set before them. Then there is treacle tart and custard. Afterwards he drives to the river and they walk along the towpath where primroses stagger yellow up the bank. She says look at them in their spring frocks and points, her arm inside her dark green wool coat. There are rowers on the water and they watch them for a while, before he takes her arm and they walk back to the bridge where the car is parked. At home he makes tea and they agree that she should leave quietly like last time. But this time he will know it is going to happen. He tells her that the sign will be when he goes to the sink to wash the cups. He rinses for a long time with the tap running. Though he is listening for it, he doesn’t hear the click of the front door. As he turns to walk to the window, he sees the day step back from him with his mother inside it.

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Related Books

Say It With Me

Vanessa Lampert

Buy now