Issue 001 An Ode to Ordinariness

Megan Ross

An Ode to Ordinariness

I like those ordinary lives, those mom-lives,
a hymn in a teacup, knowing the name of a bird
that sings outside your home office. I like the
ordinariness of women who, upon being asked
how they did it with two children, three children – more
– say, we had no choice: we just got on with it.

I like the ordinariness of moms at pick-up all huddled
in the shade of a flame tree, their own limbs locked
together to protect their children’s childhoods.
I like the way these moms will kiss their children’s
dirty faces and pull up their jeans slightly, at the belt,
and then, after wrestling with an errant T-shirt, reach
back into their hair for the tie, and redo their buns,
determined to do this while walking and balancing
their children’s school bags on one arm. I like
the ordinariness of her car keys tucked into her
armpit as she shouts her goodbyes to the other
moms, and the way that she, like every other person
at pick up, knows the drill, knows the rest of the day
and is looking forward to a hot dog with All Gold tomato
sauce and a slice of mango with her kids.

I like the ordinariness of making do, and helping out,
and getting stuck in, and all the other romances
that make the lived life the only one, which is not
to say that there is anything more ordinary or more perfect
than a woman, an ordinary woman, a mother, maybe,
only that, these are the honesties I know, two spoonfuls
of sugar, steeping for four minutes, sipped cooled, later on.

Megan Ross is the author of Milk Fever (uHlanga Press, 2018) and several short stories and essays. She runs Stoep Collective, a spirited studio crafting connections between writers, artists, and the world. A recipient of the Brittle Paper Award for Fiction (2017) and an Alumni Award from the Iceland Writers Retreat (2016), Megan has been a finalist for the Gerald Kraak, Miles Morland, Short Story Day Africa, and Short Sharp Awards. Megan lives in London with her family and is working on her memoir.