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…
illness
The Old Lady - by
Autumn, and the nights are darkening.
The old lady tells us of her past once more.
Adam, There are Animals - by
There is a small fox
/ slipping through the fabric of morning,
/ still coated in a layer of grey dusk
/
/ and carefully placing his…
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…
An Suaimhneas Bruaillein - by
’S ann ri ur seanair Dòmhnall Buachaille
/ a bha sibh a’ bruidhinn a-raoir
/ thuirt sibh rium.
/
/ Ann an aisling no an soillearachadh seòmair…
Night Sister - by
How is it possible not to grow hard,
To build a shell around yourself when you
Have to watch so much pain, and hear it too?
Recovery Room - by
The noise in the recovery room
/ Was half footfall and half hum
/
/ Like a well-mannered gallery
/ Of pictures that I could not see.
/
/ And…
From A Year and a Day: 19 October 1979 – 19 October 1980 - by
To be taken in small doses as required
/
/ October
/
/ 25: Miss G -, born while Queen Victoria was still alive,
/ standing proudly…
tender - by
when I look around me
/ the world is very bright
/
/ it is so light and shiny
/ that my long bones shiver
/
/ I am not…
The Guest House - by
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
A Tight-Rope Act - by
Holding our breath
/ in apprehension,
/ we grasp life.
/ …
Tools of the Trade - by
New doctors will be empowered by poems
/ in the pockets of their metaphorical white coats.
/ There at the ready:
/ on early, sweaty,…