Fergus Allen
To Be Read Before Being Born
No time is allowed for practice or rehearsal,
There are no retakes and there isn't a prompter.
There's only moving water, dimpled by turbulence—
And no clambering out on to the bank
To think things over, as there is no bank.
Fergus Allen, Mrs Power Looks Over the Bay, Faber and Faber, 1999.