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14 Oct 2023

Gwenno
Gwilym

No_Moon.png

New Moon

Oct 28th

Sep 29th

The Schoolkid /
Teenager Has Landed!

After ‘The weekend has landed’

from the movie, Human Traffic

The Schoolkid has Landed!


    All that exists now is packed lunches, packed schedules

                                                                                   and loaded questions

    I’ve got to navigate playground politics again, man

                                                                                  (and I don’t mean the kids!)

    We’re gonna scoot to school, chatting away, you’re so cool

    We’re gonna share books, secret looks and family quirks, the works

    We’re gonna hang out, fall out, grow up and mess up

    but we won’t give up

    The space between us is multiplying, man! 

    Today I’m Super Mum

    We’re on time, get in line, those shoes will do fine

    I forgot to bake for the school cake sale, another parenting fail 

    I’m going to need more apps than I can handle

    More notifications than my brain can process

    and I still don’t know how to pay for school lunches

    But anything could happen today, you know?

    You could swim a length, finish a novel, finally master a cartwheel

    I want to give you the world, watch you unfurl

    You’re amazing, trail-blazing, hell-raising

    I’ve got three more years before you catch the bus, refuse a kiss,

                                                                                           take the piss

    The teenager is brewing, YEAH!


The Teenager has Landed!


    All that exists now is closed doors, messy floors, spots and strops

    You’ve got so much still to learn, man! 

    I’m gonna watch from afar, dread the day you get a car

    I’m gonna take a step back, attempt to keep track 

    I’m gonna lie awake at night, try to keep it light, avoid a fight 

    The possibilities are multiplying, man!

    Today I’m Super Mum

    We’re having a laugh, messing about, haven’t made you shout

    We’re still close, shopping for clothes, seeing how it goes

    through the highs and the lows

    I love watching you grow, finding your way, day by day

    A mess of contradictions, ignoring my restrictions, full of conviction

    I’m jealous of your freedom, your late morning lie-ins, all that potential

    Anything could happen tomorrow, you know?

    You could switch off the lights, rinse your cup, elaborate on ‘Yup’

    You might have discovered girls, smoked a doob and eaten all the food

    but you’re still my baby, YEAH!

Behind the poem...

My two-poem sequence is inspired by the character of Jip in the cult classic 90s drug culture movie, Human Traffic. It’s a parody that reimagines the now-famous ‘The weekend has landed’ monologue – delivered with such wild energy by actor John Simm. What these poems try to do is capture some of the mundanity, and the magic, of raising children; to raise a smile by juxtaposing parenthood and partying.

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