Newcomers

My father came to England
from another country
My father’s mother came to England from another country
but my father’s father
stayed behind.
So my dad had no dad here and I never saw him at all.
One day in spring
some things arrived:
a few old papers,
a few old photos
and – oh yes –
a hulky bulky thick checked jacket that belonged to the man
I would have called ‘Grandad’. The Man Who Stayed Behind.
But I kept that jacket and I wore it
and I wore it
and I wore it
till it wore right through at the back.

‘Newcomers’ from the collection Quick, Let’s Get Out of Here by Michael Rosen (Puffin Books, 2015). Text copyright © Michael
Rosen, 1983. Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Watch Michael read his poem here.