Cardigan
Granny knits me one every year!
It’s the Christmas gift from hell.
Lime green, mauve, pillar box red
with cute buttons on as well.
When I was a baby I didn’t mind
wearing the hand-knit three ply;
my cardies were soft and cosy and warm
though the necks were tight and itchy.
And when I was four and starting school
there was one in bottle green.
I wanted a sweatshirt like everyone else
but to say so would have been mean.
This year I’m bracing myself to ask
for a cool grey White Fox hoody
but already I hear the needles clack!
Pink mohair, mum says. Oh goody!
It’s the Christmas gift from hell.
Lime green, mauve, pillar box red
with cute buttons on as well.
When I was a baby I didn’t mind
wearing the hand-knit three ply;
my cardies were soft and cosy and warm
though the necks were tight and itchy.
And when I was four and starting school
there was one in bottle green.
I wanted a sweatshirt like everyone else
but to say so would have been mean.
This year I’m bracing myself to ask
for a cool grey White Fox hoody
but already I hear the needles clack!
Pink mohair, mum says. Oh goody!
This poem is copyright (©) Carole Bromley 2025

About the Writer
Carole Bromley
Carole has won the Caterpillar Prize and had poems in Tyger, Tyger, The Toy, Paper Lanterns, Paperbound, Little Thoughts Press and Northern Gravy as well as in her collection, Blast Off! and anthologies from MacMillan, Nosy Crow and Emma Press. She does readings and workshops at festivals and in schools and in 2024 is tutoring courses on writing poetry for children at the Garsdale Retreat and for the Writing School online.