³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

I was in the car this morning listening to Morrissey on Desert Island Discs when my 2 year old shouted from the back seat "what's that noise?" The "noise" was "The Black Angel's Death Song" by The Velvet Underground.

"What's that noise?" was then replaced by "nee naw...nee naw". I looked around for a fire engine or ambulance. None. Then the"nee naw" again. And there it was. In among all the feedback and dissonance, John Cale's electric viola sounding like a siren. I would never have thought to describe it so simply.

And it made me think about another Morrissey, poet Sinead Morrissey whose new collection "through the square window"(Carcanet Press) is out now.

She told me in an interview this week on yesterday's "artsextra" that watching her son learn to talk has made her rethink how she looks at language. The mother and the poet being changed by a three year old.

He's the subject of the new poem "Dash" in which his new grasp of words, two of them being"longer please!" holds her and her partner "hostage", whether it be staying in the bath longer or in the playground.

"Longer please" has reshaped a poet. "What's that noise" has reshaped a classic song.