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  • illness
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illness

Could It Just Be - by Aaron Williamson

{ Poem }

Dense sensations inside a farm animal
Announce themselves
At mutant scrapyards

Structure - by Eleanor Ward

{ Poem }

Brief missteps, falling out of the bath, up / the stairs at the train station as commuters / climb over…

People Made Glasgow - by Kate Tough

{ Poem }

Shame in our hulls
/ why else would we drink to incoherence
/ jump on the heads of passing men
/ punch our women
/ tell our children…

Let Me Not - by Pauline Prior-Pitt

{ Poem }

Let me not be tempted
/ to talk incessantly about my illnesses;
/ the love of rehearsing them has become too sweet.
/
/ And more…

For Willie Soutar, October 1943 - by Douglas Young

{ Poem }

Twenty year beddit, and nou
/ the mort-claith.
/ This suld gar ilk ane grue,
/ …

Neurology Outpatients - by Gill Garrett

{ Poem }

The consultant’s room
/ a gallery
/ exhibiting the scans;
/ my head
/ an apple sliced,
/ my core on public view.
/
/ To launch the show
/ an invited few
/ stand round, comment
/ on…

GP Talk - by Ruth Arnison

{ Poem }

Her GP told her, it’s important
/ to start looking for special accommodation
/ for when the time comes.
/
/ Parkinsons makes her slow…

When Mum Describes a Horse - by David Gilbert

{ Poem }

When mum describes a horse
/ She has seen from her low bed
/ Galloping across the white wall
/ Or through it
/
/ We cough and…

Sala de Esperanza - by Lawrence Hergott, MD

{ Poem }

The sign on the hospital wall
/ identifying the space
/ begins with a Spanish phrase—
/ sala de espera,
/ waiting room.
/
/ A more symbolic phrase
/ may have deeper…

from Lochaline Stores - by Jackie Kay

{ Poem }

Nothing can be hidden from Lochaline Stores,
/ Supposing the Grocer’s has eyes and ears:
/ Not an addiction to scratch cards or whisky,
/ Not…

Alzheimer’s - by Bob Hicock

{ Poem }

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,…

X-Ray - by Dannie Abse

{ Poem }

Some prowl sea-beds, some hurtle to a star
/ and, mother, some obsessed turn over every stone
/ or open graves…

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Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
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