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Linda France is a poet who lives near Hexham in Northumberland. Her books include Red, The Gentleness of the Very Tall, and Storyville. She asked for her biog note to consist to the following poem, and postcard.
North and South
Back in 1962 the world was
A foreign place I was just beginning
To feel at homc in. I'd mouth and tongue sounds
My cars heard,- Mam's clipped consonants, big sisters'
Sing-svng vowels. And peoplc understovd.
Then onc night was a dream of a red room
With wheels that kcpt me awakc, stars spelling
South. South. South, where it never snowed and we
_ Would live in a nice new house and I would
Go to a nice new school.
No one warned me.
Hamworthy Primary was full of kids
With straw bctwecn their teeth that made them sound
Iike lazy cows. Where I came from the talk
Was quick as flocking birds. We laughed out loud -
No sneering behind hands, with rolling eyes.
Who's her? I cried inarticulate tears.
To survive, I had no choice but to try
To make my mouth echo back their fat ain'ts,
Become a chewing cow; or at least pretend.
I parroted their slow accents, even
Though the long feathers never really fit.
I plucked then, out, the first chance I got;
But discovcred I'd also lost, mid-flight,
My native accent I thought was bone.
In its place was this anonymous voice,
That sounds, to me, as if it belongs to
Someone else; feels two or three sizes too large.
The words and the spaces between the words
Ring with false echoes, false compass points.
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