They would decide what was fitting for an adolescent -
They, who kept their brains somewhere else.
5. 'Deflate-a-dear'
How frail a devalued child is! But adolescence
Has a surprise in store for parental no-hopers:
Impotence of soul may gain a perverse sense
Of mastery from meriting disparaging labels!
Could the boy, actually bright, forgive the stupidity
That they were bent on committing in him, and lose
The chance of vengeance in his soul's suicide?
8. ‘Donator, dear...’
There are three kinds of frugal outsider:
Mum on her travels, briefly needing,
Perennially desired; the adaptable Travellers
With their familial culture;
And the unemployed house-dweller.
Kids on the move bond to no screen
But to kin and neighbours sprung from the earth -
A belonging network as meaningful, as consistent,
As steady as any field; through the Family School
The resourceful pass, and emerge as route-finders,
Economists of local supply and demand,
Ingenious opportunists in occupational choice,
Psychologists of people’s needs and weaknesses,