Full Description
Hot on the heels of her previous collection Men Who Feed Pigeons, Selima Hill's Women in Comfortable Shoes is her 21st book of poetry, presenting eleven contrasting but well-fitting sequences of short poems relating to women:
Fishface: A disobedient young girl is sent to a Catholic convent school to give her mother a break.
My Friend Weasel: The 50s. A girls' boarding school where the girls are somehow managing to make new friends.
Susan and Me: On friendship. Two close friends, one of whom, Susan, is heading for a nervous breakdown.
Dolly: Dolly is a duck. The other 29 women are, in their various ways, human.
My Mother with a Beetle in Her Hair: A daughter's passion for swimming - despite of her mother hating every minute.
Fridge: Lorries, geese and fridges speak of death, grief and absence.
My Spanish Swimsuit: A daughter fears her rabbit-trapping father..
The Chauffeur: A pair of bad-tempered sisters, a parrot and a cat.
Girls without Hamsters: An older woman's obsession with a spider-legged young man.
Reduced to a Quivering Jelly: Vera is old, and getting older, but she doesn't seem to care.
Dressed and Sobbing: A woman is surprised to find herself getting older and lazier.
The book is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Contents
Fishface
25 My Mother with a Pair of Scissors
25 The Green Bear
26 Ponies
26 The Boiled Egg
26 Good Morning, Reverend Mother
27 Wasps
27 Real Cherries
27 Edith
28 The Blessed Virgin Mary's Ears
28 Melted Chocolate
29 What Other Things?
29 Mother Mary
30 Mountaineering
30 People in Taxis
31 What to Wear in Bed
32 My Mother on the Verge of Tears
32 Lambs
33 Clocks
33 The Man in the Veil
34 The Toot of the Jag
34 The Word Laburnum
35 Rounders
35 Ants
36 This Nasty Chair
36 Switzerland
37 Fishface
37 Zvuv
38 Notes
My Friend Weasel
40 Perfection
40 The Plait
40 The New Assistant Matron
41 Flamingos
41 The Daughter of the Chauffeur
42 My Mother Visits My Father
42 Gravel in Our Hair
42 The Pilot
43 Those Who Love Their Fathers
43 The Queen
43 What We Do After Church
44 One Hot Day
44 Tennis
44 Horses
45 The Shimmering Plains of Africa
45 Golf
46 Out of Reach in Their Enormous Coats
46 Hula-hooping on the Log-shed Roof
47 Rabbit Pie
47 Hairbrushes
47 Brigitte Bardot
48 Summer Term
48 Sherbet Lemons
49 People at a Cat Show
49 Mosquitos
49 Lights Out
50 My Friend's Uncle's Tortoise
50 Young Ladies
50 Rudolf Nureyev's Hair
51 Swimming in the Lake
51 Sunday
52 Mothers, Mothers, Mothers
52 Candelabra
52 Summer
53 Violets
53 Fleas
53 Marriage
54 Mouse
54 End-of-term Concert
55 Train
55 Toilets, Waterloo Station
55 Uzbekistan
56 The House
Susan and Me
59 The New Girl
59 Her Bedside Locker
59 The Horse
60 Her Late Mother's Mason Pearson Hairbrush
60 Like Painted Barges
60 Without Sin
61 A Man with a Palm
62 The Love of One Potato for Another
62 The Blood-stained Mower
63 Disobedience
63 Her Green-and-white-striped Dress
64 The Lesson
64 Sailing
65 Acne
65 Flapjacks
65 Pig
66 Her Father's Car
66 The Art Galleries and Churches of Central Europe
67 Her Little Suitcases
67 Along the Fringes of This Dazzling World
68 Bedsit
68 Solid as a Rock
69 Curd
69 Tinned Fish
Dolly
73 When I Was a Girl I Was Adorable
73 Mother Mary
74 Olivia on the Coach
74 Mrs Potter the Cook
75 Georgina's Mother
75 My Friend Eva
76 Lucinda in the Wood
76 Great-Aunt T.
77 Miss Gee, Matron
77 Bernadette Upstairs
78 Doctor Kay
78 Mrs Lawrence, Landlady
79 Sophia, Prefect
79 Cousin Helen
79 Miss de Vos, Headmistress
80 Marta My Room-mate
80 Kitty in Term-time
81 The Woman on the Mountain
81 Mrs A., Abandoned
81 Carlotta, the Pianist
82 Lizzie, Widow
82 Jean, Out-patient
83 My Friend Annie
84 Edna in the Loo
84 Penny in the Opposite Bed
84 Billie My Rival
85 Angelina, My Tutor
85 Isabel, My New Boss
86 Dr Davey
86 Linda
My Mother with a Beetle in Her Hair
88 Owls
88 My Uncle the Doctor
89 My Mother's Hands
90 The Man with Tiny Books
90 Winter Afternoons at the Pool
91 My Mother Wearing More than One Coat
91 The Pool Attendant at Night
92 The Man Who Looks Like a Baby
92 The Woman from the Nail Bar
93 Walnut
93 The Girl Who Stroked Cows
94 Her One Desire
94 The Stranger on the Bus
95 Different Kinds of Honey
96 My Mother's Daughter
96 The Bony Woman with the Tiny Waist
97 My Mother and the Sheep
97 Looking at Each Other's Breasts in the Changing-room
98 My Mother as a Daisy
98 Café in the Snow
99 The Man with Snow-white Skin
100 A Woman with a Bunch of Red Roses
100 Having Fun with Babies
101 An Old Man Blue with Cold
102 The Woman with the Plait
102 Rabbits
103 Friday Night at the Swimming-pool
104 The Man in Purple Swimming-trunks
104 The Photograph of My Dog in My Duffle-bag
105 A Very Dark Blue
105 The Silent Couple No One Really Knows
106 The Woman in the Salmon-pink Underwear
106 Delicate Questions from the Young Doctor
107 Expensive Swimwear
108 No More Potatoes
Fridge
110 The Beach
110 Rabbits
111 Tiny Children
111 The Letter
112 Other People's Mothers
112 My Father Dreams He is a Lorry
113 Men with Saws
113 Standing in the Presence of My Father
114 My Father's Roses
114 My Father's Death
115 A Dream of Forgiveness
115 Kate
116 Being Fast Asleep in the Daytime
116 J.J.
117 M.
117 My Friend H.
118 Getting Used To It
119 Babies with Buckets
120 The Person in the Drawing-room
120 The Goose
121 How To Be Tidy
121 Maybe I Should Give It a Try
122 My Mother Playing Tennis
123 Babs
124 The Dead
124 Telepathy
125 The Room
126 Her Being Dead
My Spanish Swimsuit
128 The Earwig
128 My Little Sister
128 The Box of Assorted Plasters
129 Tea on the Lawn
129 My Father, God
129 Betrayed
130 Saluki
130 Shadow
130 Which Is Worse?
131 My Pet
131 Smarties
131 Adults
132 My Mother and Small Children
132 Courting
132 Ringlets
133 My Father
133 Rabbits
133 The Head of the Table
134 The Girls in the Churchyard
134 My Spanish Swimsuit
134 Shoulders
134 Yes to the Carpenter
135 My Father's Rabbit
135 I'm Sorry It Has Had to Be Like This
135 Moths
136 My Girlfriends' Boyfriends
136 My Father is Right
136 The Lonely Dog in the Empty House
The Chauffeur
139 Tiny Girls Singing Hymns
139 Girls in Shorts
139 The Draughtsman
140 Fish
140 Shells
141 The Land of Fun
141 My Sister's Bedroom
142 Ducks
142 Rotty the Rottweiler
143 Smile, Smile
143 Marquetry
144 I Send My Sister Cards
144 Smile, Smile, Smile
145 The Wedding-dress
145 In the Hotel Bedroom Something Soft
146 Hippo
146 Ann
147 The Suitcase
147 Tommy
148 Those Who Choose Not to Have Husbands
148 Our Sparkling Eyes
148 Queue
149 My Sister's Nipples
149 Tinkle, Tinkle
149 Tea-time
150 She Moves Away
150 Horses' Ears
150 St Petersburg
151 The Photograph
151 Wild Horses
152 Georges
152 Lips
152 Gladioli
Girls without Hamsters
1 | Dancing Lessons for the Very Shy
156 The Visitor (1)
156 Dawn
156 The Little Beanie
157 The Handsome Spider
157 Tiny and Forlorn
157 The Visitor (2)
158 The Sofa
158 The Wasp
159 The Top Two Things I Like About You
159 The Bath (1)
159 I Know It Isn't Right
160 Cats in Crates
160 The Most Important Thing
160 A Person with a Key
161 The Visitor (3)
161 The Crane
161 The Ginger Cat
162 Us
162 The Fly
162 The Suitcase
163 Elephants
163 The Man with a Pomegranate
163 The Coat
164 The Giraffe
164 The Hat
165 Tenderness
165 The Visitor (4)
165 When I Saw You in the Street I Fled
166 Silence
166 The Man I Mustn't Meet
166 The Path to the Woods
167 Knees
167 Although You're Shy
167 The Dachshund
168 The Snail
168 What I Did When I Saw You Again After So Long
169 Swimming at Dawn
169 Attention
169 The Bath (2)
170 Her Only Son
170 Violins
170 Your Rock
171 Peacefully Tucked Away
171 My Life With You
171 One Hundred Words
172 Never Love a Mathematician
172 Grasses
173 Precious Jewels
173 Most of the Time
173 Socks in the Snow
174 If You Were a Pig
174 Everything Makes Me Think of You
175 The Enchantment
175 Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age by Bohumil Hrabal
175 The Visitor (5)
176 In a Calm Way
176 The Person on Our Right
176 The Rat
177 Articulated Lorries
177 The Bath (3)
177 The Clock
177 Nose
178 Shrieks of Laughter from Inside the House
178 Completely Out of the Blue
2 | My Mother's Knives
180 T.
180 Mole
180 My Mother's Knives
181 The Older Woman
181 T.'s Room
182 Bucket
182 Please Forgive Me
183 Tiers of Expensive Trainers
183 I Worry
183 The Visitor
184 Into the Depths of the Sea
184 His Tiny Mouth
185 Through the Damp Woods
185 Bedtime
185 People Won't Like It
186 Chick
186 Fish
186 Paint
187 What Is Longing?
187 Beetles
187 Heron
188 Certain Older Women
188 Hope
188 A Precious Living Man
189 And To Agree
189 My Father
190 Confessions of a Fly
190 The Courting Spider Purrs
190 Cranny
191 Dreams
191 Mouse
192 Round and Round the Woods
192 If T. Is Like a God
193 When Older Women Talk About Their Lovers
193 Legs
194 Every Time You Move
194 Cranefly
195 T. on the Beach
195 When He's Quiet
195 Dog
196 My Obsession with T.
196 The Acrobat
3 | The Passion Fruit Hotel
198 Record-breaking Kisses
198 My Mother and Hotels
199 The Passion Flower Hotel
199 The House on the Hill
200 And Be Ye Lift Up, Ye Everlasting Doors
200 My Mother Was Right
200 The Lovesick Toad
201 Crayfish
201 Ducklings
202 The Goose
202 Way Up in the Heavens
202 Fathers and Sons
203 Honky
203 Chandeliers
203 Margaret
204 Sunday Afternoon at the Beach
204 T's Neck
204 What People Think About
205 The Slug
205 Shoebill
206 My Friend T.
206 Wiry
206 The Holiday
207 The Lizard
207 The Oyster
208 Soft Upturned Bellies
208 My Mother's Voice
208 The Woman in Tiny Shorts
209 My Boring Uncle
209 What I Really Want to Know
Reduced to a Quivering Jelly
213 The Red MG
213 The Fox
214 The Blanket
214 Quivering Jelly
215 A New Pair of Shorts
216 Lime-ade
217 Men in Shorts
217 Duckling
218 Oral Sex
218 The China Doll
219 Walkies
219 The Penis of a Large Horse
220 The Top of the Hill
220 Mother
221 Lola
221 The Sponge Cake
221 The Ambulance
222 The Tennis Dress
222 The Pearl Necklace
223 The Lagonda
223 The Question
223 The Smell of Cows
224 Crying for No Reason
224 The Sultan's Fragrant Concubines
225 Truffles
225 Yellow Ducks
226 The Leotard
226 The New Pair of Shoes
227 The Silver Hair
227 What Vera Needs
228 Arboriculture
228 Froth
229 The Suitcase
229 The Lovely Nurses
230 Vera in the Bathroom with Her Puzzle Book
Dressed and Sobbing
232 Woman on a Sofa
232 Orange Juice
233 Large and Small and Medium-sized Facecloths
233 The Woman in the Bathroom Mirror
234 What's That Hand Doing in My Sock
235 A Grandmother in Jeans
236 The Pianist
237 Women in Blankets
238 A Story about Moose
239 The Visitor
240 Pies
240 Lying on my Back in the Dark
241 Forgiveness
241 Naughty Girls in Dark Woods
242 Suitcase
244 Hootie
245 How to Attract Men
246 The Woman on the Bus
247 My Mother's Naked Body
248 Semolina
249 Athletic, Chaste, Untroubled
249 Divorcee
250 Lilies
250 Howls of Laughter
251 Women in Pyjamas
251 Violet
252 The Rooms Downstairs
252 How to Float
253 Little Squeaks
253 True Love
254 Cheese
254 Dressed and Sobbing
