Cancer Villanelle - by
Needles plunge. Consultants come and go.
Today, leukocytes are easy to locate;
tomorrow, next year, they may sink below.
cancer
To My Surgeon - by
No-one else sees me
drowning in the white wave
sprinkled with a terrible salt
Second Opinion - by
We went to Leeds for a second opinion.
/ After her name was called,
/ I waited among the apparently well
/ And those with bandaged…
Teddy - by
for a child with leukaemia
/
/ Teddy was not well.
/ Teddy had been feeling sick.
/ Teddy had to go to hospital.
/ Teddy was told that…
Voluntary Redundancy - by
‘There is at least a moderate risk that there is in your family
/ an alteration in a gene that can cause…
To My Surgeon - by
No-one else sees me
/ drowning in the white wave
/ sprinkled with a terrible salt
/
/ invasive lobular carcinoma
/ is difficult to identify
/
/ but you take one…
In Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh - by
Eyeing an African carved leaning tower
/ Of people holding one another up
/ For dear life, childishly I bless that stranger
/
/ Who in a…