Pew friends, the three women bonded.
Laughs, ribbings, play with words,
a Hebridean lilt, Edinburgh twang,
Mum’s Paisley brogue made choral song.
When they met at Mum’s soirees
we could hear the chatter, crosstalk,
echoing down the hall, infectious merriment.
They sat in the same armchairs,
gossiped (kindly) about who-know-who,
moaned like politicians about the minister.
They were just good friends
to us, a bit bonkers, no hint of
their years of war, loss, money worries.
Held together like sisters over time,
without rivalry or jealousy
driving the moment, they thrived.
© Maggie Mackay
Picture 10278516, 1930s photograph by H Armstrong Roberts, image copyright Mary Evans / Classic Stock
A retired Scottish support teacher for young people with additional needs, Maggie Mackay took up her writing again and began a thrilling new life. After studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, her pamphlet The Heart of the Run (Picaroon Poetry, 2018, with Kate Garrett) was followed by her debut collection A West Coast Psalter (Kelsay Books, 2021). In 2020 her poem ‘How to Distil a Guid Scotch Malt’ was awarded a place in the Poetry Archive’s WordView permanent collection and her poem was a runner up in The Liverpool Prize. Steve Cawte at Impspired Press published her second collection The Babel of Human Travel in November 2022. She reviews poetry pamphlets at Sphinx (Happenstance Press) and collections at The Friday Poem. Maggie loves a good malt and cool jazz as much as daydreaming on the sofa with Hattie, her marvellous rescue greyhound.
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