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
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
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…