A 'P6 spelling book' - what is that?
There is a poem by Sinéad Morrissey that starts like this:

A soldier returned from a war
was how my P6 spelling book put it: I saw
cripples with tin cans for coins
in dusty scarlet, back from some spat of Empire.

Does it mean some textbook at school? For the 6th year of the primary school perhaps? But is yes, why is that a 'spelling book' - sounds more like history... Do they maybe put historical pictures/photographs into spelling textbooks?
Any help really appreciated.

Question

A 'P6 spelling book' - what is that?
There is a poem by Sinéad Morrissey that starts like this:

A soldier returned from a war
was how my P6 spelling book put it: I saw
cripples with tin cans for coins
in dusty scarlet, back from some spat of Empire.

Does it mean some textbook at school? For the 6th year of the primary school perhaps? But is yes, why is that a 'spelling book' - sounds more like history... Do they maybe put historical pictures/photographs into spelling textbooks?
Any help really appreciated.

Answer

You're right about the book, but wrong about the picture. P6 in this case is primary 6, for 10 year olds, approximately.

'xxx was how my P6 spelling book put it' refers to the definition of the word 'veteran'.  How you 'put ' something is how you phrase it.

The picture that she  'saw' is the image in her own mind, conjured up by the word 'veteran' and the definition of a soldier returning to the war.

Answer

Yes its her way of describing a dictionary.