Annie Fisher is a story-teller, with a background in primary education. Her debut poetry pamphlet draws on memories of a Catholic upbringing, as well as work in schools.
She knows about loss of faith, and loss of face, knows from the inside how confidence gets lost—and reasserted.
This is a poet with an eye for mischief, an ear for rhythm and form, delicious deftness of touch, and incorrigible joy in the process of creation.
And alas, this lovely pamphlet is sold out!
Eleven
The test glared, strict as a smack.
The classroom smelt of rain-soaked macs.
A man aged 27 was married to a woman, 24.
He died at 81, the wife at 91.
For what fraction of her life was she a widow?
Each page a new befuddlement.
Numbers. Riddles. Words.
They marked her Borderline, then Failed.
A timid girl. A single day. A life ago.
Put up your hand if you can calculate the cost
of all she could have learned
and would have loved
but lost.
