Let Me Not - by
Let me not be tempted
/ to talk incessantly about my illnesses;
/ the love of rehearsing them has become too sweet.
/
/ And more…
illness
Alzheimer’s - by
Chairs move by themselves, and books.
/ Grandchildren visit, stand
/ new and nameless, their faces’ puzzles
/ missing pieces. She’s like a fish
/
/ in deep ocean,…
This Is Bad Enough - by
This is bad enough
/ So please …
/
/ Don’t give me
/ gobbledegook.
/
/ Don’t give me
/ pages and dense pages
/ and
/ “this leaflet aims to explain ……
Psalm Eighty-Eight Blues - by
Lord, when I’m speechless
/ when something – not just sorrow
/ but under that – a dull, numb, nameless dreich
/ about the heart I…
Ward 64 - by
the curtain’s beige and orange checks
/ do nothing to divide us
/
/ when her drip beeps I think it’s mine
/
/ when she hears the…
Beannacht / Blessing - by
For Josie, my mother
/
/ On the day when
/ the weight deadens
/ on your shoulders
/ and you stumble,
/ may the clay dance
/ to balance you.
/
/ And when your…
from ‘Playing God’ - by
10. A note of warning to patients when all else fails
/
/ Sometimes the needle is too blunt.
/ The stethoscope is too quiet.
/ The…
These are the Hands - by
for the 60th anniversary of the NHS
/
/ These are the hands
/ That touch us first
/ Feel your head
/ Find the pulse
/ And make your bed.
/
/ These…
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…
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…
Nothing - by
Because she is exhausted
/ and confused,
/
/ and doesn’t want to argue,
/ and can’t speak,
/
/ she dreams of nothing
/ for a thousand years,
/
/ or what the nurses…
The Old Lady - by
Autumn, and the nights are darkening.
/ The old lady tells us of her past once more.
/ She muses on the days she…