Hilary Menos
Linus
The drugs go in through a tube up his nose,
come out again as multicoloured vomit –
phenytoin pink, red iron and the vitamins’
gold stain – a curdled rainbow on the babygro.
He makes a guessing game of dosages.
Horizons shrink to a silver line. Remember him,
small on a small bed, wrapped in foil for warmth,
like a turkey, too early for Christmas.
They sent me to a basement lined with lead,
squat grey breast-pumps stationed round the room
like ancient sewing machines. Hydraulics hissed
as they milked me numb. I woke curled round him,
screened by curtains, pillows laid on the floor,
crisp white squares to break his fall.
come out again as multicoloured vomit –
phenytoin pink, red iron and the vitamins’
gold stain – a curdled rainbow on the babygro.
He makes a guessing game of dosages.
Horizons shrink to a silver line. Remember him,
small on a small bed, wrapped in foil for warmth,
like a turkey, too early for Christmas.
They sent me to a basement lined with lead,
squat grey breast-pumps stationed round the room
like ancient sewing machines. Hydraulics hissed
as they milked me numb. I woke curled round him,
screened by curtains, pillows laid on the floor,
crisp white squares to break his fall.
Hilary Menos lives near Totnes with three children, writes poetry which is published widely and organizes and compères a local poetry cabaret, One Night Stanza. She won the Envoi International Poetry Competition in 2002.
Page(s) 39
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