What life is really

like
by Beverly Rycroft
 ABOUT THE POET

Beverly Rycroft was born in the Eastern Cape and qualified as a teacher. After teaching for a few years, she

began writing and her debut poetry collection called Missing won the Ingrid Jonker award in 2012.

In 1997, Beverly was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and the themes of her poems relate to the

experience of facing mortality, illness and the hope of recovery.

© Optimi
You need to toughen up You see life is a fight for survival 25
my father would complain he’d shout, forgetting
when I was small he was not lecturing his students
I ought to take you to see or giving his inaugural address
chickens having their heads 5 You gotta roll with the punches
chopped off.
That’d teach you i waited and waited for that bitter 30
what life is really like. roughness to spy me and circle What life is really like
in to land
He’d seek me out years and years This poem is a lyrical poem written with
when one of his pigeons 10 of flinching anticipation until
- crazed for home or the day I came home from hospital 35 free verse.
Mad with terror from a
roaming hawk – and my father dressed my wound. It consists of 43 irregular lines and has 8
would tumble into
the loft 15 Easing with practiced hands stanzas.
mutilated by the drip from my bulldozed chest
wire or beak. he renewed the plaster in breathing silence The father’s words are italicized.
never speaking never 40
I was the one made to once saying
clench my palms round
its pumping chest, 20 Life’s a bastard TONE: Poem starts off cautionary with
to keep it still while Toughen up. imperatives to warn – this changes in
my father’s hairy fingers stitched
its garotted throat stanza 7 to a tone of resignation.
angrily to rights again.

© Optimi
 Speaker’s father wants them to toughen up → What tone is being used?
This line is speaking directly to the speaker – they are recalling the exact
You need to toughen up words said to him each time.

We get the impression that the father often seemed disappointed in the speaker.
my father would complain

when I was small So, this dissatisfaction in the speaker started from a young age.

I ought to take you to see

It was merely a threat – never actually took them to see this gruesome act.

chickens having their heads

chopped off. Think about why this line is effective – these words standing alone? Adds to the finality of the chicken’s death…

That’d teach you Great example of the run-on line being used… mirrors the speaker’s stream of thinking.

These two lines suggest that the father’s intention was to teach
what life is really like. the speaker a lesson – to understand that life can be really
hard, and one has to toughen up in order to survive. THEME

© Optimi
 The father would look for them on purpose to use the moment to teach about life.

He’d seek me out

The father kept pigeons – who might be attacked by other birds
when one of his pigeons
Note the function of the dashes –

of prey or who had flown frantically home from elsewhere.

included extra description.

- crazed for home or Personification – the pigeon is given the ability to act crazy or even feel the deeper meaning
of having a ‘home’.
Usually has connotations of being a
Mad with terror from a place of safety / where one can feel
relaxed or comforted.
Predatory bird simply out looking for prey.
roaming hawk –
This explains the pigeon’s ‘crazed’ behaviour.
would tumble into
The ‘home’ of the pigeons – usually a higher point of a house / the
the loft coop where the birds return to after being released elsewhere.

mutilated by
The pigeon either was injured by the attacking
hawk OR was caught on a piece of wire.
wire or beak.

© Optimi
 Notice the ‘I’ is in bold – emphasizing how the speaker was given the responsibility
to hold the injured bird.

I was the one made to

A tight grip – yet we sense they were still careful when holding the injured bird.

clench my palms round

its pumping chest,

These pigeons mean something to the father; therefore, time and care is taken to
rescue them.
to keep it still while

Speaker notices details in the moment which makes the memory so vivid too.
my father’s hairy fingers stitched We can imagine clearly what was happening in that moment.

When a piece of wire / rope / cord is used to strangle something or someone.

its garotted throat

angrily to rights again.

Contrasting to the action being carried out – the stitching needs to be done without injuring
the bird further BUT the father was always angry that it had happened.

© Optimi
 Italics – the speaker is recalling the father’s words.

You see life is a fight for survival

The run-on lines indicate how the moment is
being recalled in one flowing thought.

he’d shout, forgetting

We get the impression that the father was a teacher /

he was not lecturing his students principal of some sorts…

or giving his inaugural address

The speaker acknowledges here that the father was

You gotta roll with the punches passionate – and his anger while stitching up the bird is
NOT directed at them but rather is a sign of the father’s
passion for justice and his need to set things right in the
world, in general.

The father’s life lesson: a person needs to learn to

adapt in difficult situations and not be easily defeated /
need to develop resilience.

© Optimi
 Notice how the speaker reduces their own pronoun to lower case – in these
moments the speaker would feel vulnerable, always expecting, waiting for
something dreadful to happen to her in which they would have to show
resilience - which DOES eventually happen…
i waited and waited for that bitter
IMAGERY of Cancer being like the hawk… waiting to
roughness to spy me and circle strike.

in to land
Just as the ‘roaming hawk’ stalked the pigeon, so this disease had been
stalking the speaker… and eventually it struck…
years and years

of flinching anticipation until

The speaker’s cancer diagnosis.

the day I came home from hospital

Remember the connotation of ‘home’ – speaker feels the same sense of
belonging and safety as the pigeon feels coming home to the safety of the
coop.

This line is isolated – think of the effect?

and my father dressed my wound. Why has the poet done this?

We can imagine the same care being carried out by the father as he tended to his child – perhaps his life lesson is rather, to care for others
and allow oneself to be cared for too.

© Optimi
 Having carried out similar actions on the vulnerable pigeons, he is
capable of helping his daughter with great care.
Easing with practiced hands

The speaker has had surgery (mastectomy) – the metaphor clearly

helps us imagine how her chest is torn up like a bulldozer would
the drip from my bulldozed chest destroy a piece of land.

he renewed the plaster in breathing

We can imagine the quiet moment while her father helps her replace
the bandage / plaster and cares for her. This quiet contrasts with the
silence never speaking never angry and shouting image from earlier in the poem.

once saying

Note the pause / extended break between these lines and the last two lines…

Are these the speaker’s words – in italics? Her father is so affected by her situation that he is silenced… he has
tried to make her strong all her life but, in this situation, there is nothing he can do to prevent the cancer. He can
Life’s a bastard only quietly help her. Perhaps the speaker is drawing on her father’s advice – making herself strong, showing
Toughen up. resilience. Or it is the only words spoken at this moment by the father – emphasizing his heartfelt frustration that
there is nothing more he can do or say for his daughter.

© Optimi