Character: Foundling Mick
Book: Foundling Mick (English translation of P’tit Bonhomme)
Author: Jules Verne
26 writer: Irene Lofthouse
A French writer. The land of my mother. A sympathetic portrait of many an Irish family’s antecedents, their treatment still echoing through time, achievements still under-rated.
The Isle of Song for visitors
is not yours P’tit Bonhomme,
one of poverty, pain
mistreatment personal, political,
of abandonment, abuse.
Pockets of love intrude
into your world of exploitation
eviction, starvation, migrations
Are breathed in, shared with other
little fellows, inspire resilience
resourcefulness, respect
unexpected from one so young
A superhero surviving
circumstances but in translation
you are Mick = thick.