Posts by: Robert Ford

I’ve baked bread on and off for 26 years. I started shortly after my dad died in 1993. He’d been pushed into early retirement in the late 1980’s, from the job that he loved more than anything… running a supermarket like it was a corner store. As for so many people, what he did for a living defined who he was as a person. Particularly since my mum had died in 1978, his work was his life… he had no hobbies, and worked long, long hours at the supermarket… going there long before it opened in a morning, and staying…

When one door closes in our lives, there is often the temptation to seek out another doorway to step through. We want to feel whole again, to feel in control again, and all too often, we choose to (in)conveniently overlook the fact that we first need to heal.

I don’t spend as much time writing poetry or short stories as I used to. I think that writing has often been a way for me to process things on my own, whereas nowadays I’m more likely to talk about things with others. I count myself lucky to have family and friends who are always ready to listen, to celebrate the good times and to help me through the not so good.

So many of us are wounded when we exit relationships. As we heal, there is often a conflict between wanting to love and be loved again, and our fear of being hurt and/or disappointed again. This poem is all about that conflict.

This is based on memories of all of those games of ‘Hide and Seek’ with my daughter.