Michael Laskey

Michael Laskey co-ordinates the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. His first collection of verse, Thinking of happiness, has just appeared from Peterloo.

Poem: ‘A Family Joke’

Michael Laskey, 7 November 1991

Just her superstition – never to watch a guest pass out of sight. There we’d be all waving together till the last moment when she’d turn

and dash indoors. Not that it dawned on us for years – she was just our mother – but rumbling her we were unanimous: nonsense like that had to stop.

So we’d encourage her, slip our arms around her shoulders and then hold...

Read anywhere with the London Review of Books app, available now from the App Store for Apple devices, Google Play for Android devices and Amazon for your Kindle Fire.

Sign up to our newsletter

For highlights from the latest issue, our archive and the blog, as well as news, events and exclusive promotions.

Newsletter Preferences