You know the sort.
He’s baking organic vegetable snacks
while she’s teaching the two-year-old
how to count in Catalan.
They organised the right school
moments after conception.
They know everything,
you know nothing.
Their baby has never cried,
never thrown up on the hire car,
it never even really seemed to be a baby at all,
more like a middle-aged Archers’ fan
hidden in a macrame shawl.
A glass of white wine the size of Greenland
has been poured, it’s late in the evening,
they’re coming across the room to share
some of their worldly wisdom,
to pass on the secrets of their special way.
They want to give you the benefit of their expertise.
You don’t want to do it like that…
And they just can’t resist giving you
that little special bit of advice
picked up from an old French villager.
Just learn how to say non.
Taken from a BBC article, 10 types of irritating advice for parents, 28 June 2013. Submitted by Angi Holden.
Verbatim Poetry 