I have not been able to trace the name of the author of this poignant poem.
In the age of ever-available 24-hour media in a multitude of formats, today's young people probably require footnotes to explain the mixture of emotions any child - not just one bereaved - could feel at the times when the test card was all the television had to offer
Noughts & Crosses
The day I didn’t have to go to school
I watched our silent tv screen instead.
The Trade Test Pattern was all I had to fool;
I stared until its frozen colours bled.
I watched our silent tv screen instead
Of figuring out where Father might have gone.
I stared until its frozen colours bled:
A girl played noughts & crosses with a clown
(Figuring out where father might have gone?)
For hours & hours. I sat there gazing as
A girl played noughts & crosses with a clown.
I didn’t see the point but there I was;
For hours & hours I sat there gazing as
The world contracted to a grinning face.
I didn’t.
