On the impossibility of writing a CV at my age

589.

My photo

*

Do I start with my birth, far back

In the folds of the 20th century, before the Beatles

But not Bill Haley?

Do I mention my First Holy Communion

And my anger and sorrow at having to wear

A short broderie anglaise dress

And no veil (unlike my friends)?

Or my O level triumph with seven unexpected As

Out of nine exams,

Or my A levels with two As and a C and an S level

In History,

Or my Oxford University History degree?

And my marriage in 1981?

I was always going to be a Nobel Prize for Literature

Winner — so far, not yet,

And doing stupid secketery jobs and Teeline shorthand

Didn’t matter.

A bit of freelance journalism helped.

Do my three children count at all?

My husband died in 2002 — is that

Worth mentioning?