One Child Warm at my Side

By Emily Munro

when I hoover my daughter’s bedroom I am

a better mother I am good mother not writing

not angering I am good mother not watching

not hoping my hoover good mother too

extends my arm my bicep curl pilates my waist

I the good mother pick dust clear wrappers

from beneath the bed tidy excesses of

childhood like my own mother did if I do it

uncomplaining a smile across my jaw an uplift

stop the jowls a jade-rolled jaw we can share

I am a better mother than expected

unfinished as meals I slowly cook

formless as words I use to speak

joyful as times I brush their teeth

I smile when the dentist says

no cavities not quite just a little

greying here and there

that is all it takes to be a lesser mother

but he can’t see her carpet

how clean it is today!

my favourite is unwashed hair

dreams in which I’m caught lying

she will climb it

she will acclimate

my child hand on my chest pick up phone

seven year fingers scratch breast scroll down

my child with feet tucked blue vest pressed

against my life jacket in sea of sleep a metal

table covered child breathing on my face

prays collapses prays five little fingers on my

screen many thousand dead children on my

phone and this one child warm at my side

Emily Munro is a writer and filmmaker.

Emily writes poetry and fiction. Her writing has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies and was longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award (2023).

She has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing (with Distinction) and a PhD in Film Studies, both from the University of Glasgow. Her documentary Living Proof: A Climate Story (2021), made from repurposed archive footage, was nominated for a FOCAL International award and has screened widely, both at home and abroad.

Emily lives with her family in Scotland where she is employed as a curator in a national film archive. She is working on a novel and a collection of poems.

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