Andrew C. Ferguson
Trophy
Clara B had the effrontery
to die when Herr Doktor had moved on
so they shipped her, brain and brainstem
in a box on the Frankfurt – Munich train
an oyster shucked
from the dead bone head,
spinal column cracked open
like the tail of a prawn
so Alzheimer could prod and poke, slice and dice
a trophy for his papers, though not,
one trusts, for his wall.
My mother’s going on that journey
just a rickle of bones, bent,
sparrow-thin, hawk nose
hawk eye clouding as
she pecks at conversations, not getting
the half of it, chasing worms of words
as the clouds pass, or bright
like she used to be, her words blades:
she keeps her fear wrapped up tight
in a linen handkerchief somewhere
a trophy of her own she can never name.
Andrew C. Ferguson lives in Fife. A poetry pamphlet co-written with Jane McKie, Head to Head, is now available from www.knuckerpress.com. Andrew is on Facebook and at www.myspace.com/andrewcferguson.
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