Pat Borthwick
Twin
My severed twin,
you blink when I blink,
sneeze when I sneeze,
wake at the same time.
See here, touch here
beneath my heart.
This is where we joined
before the surgeon’s knife
keened you away.
Under our fine wool tops
we each have an extra secret.
We had no choice.
Two glistening red pools
float on our ribs.
In between our heartbeats
we hear a scarred slurp and slop.
Sleep patrols in a tall chair,
binoculars sweeping horizons.
Daily, my flesh puckers,
your plumps. Is rosier.
Once, I stripped bare,
stepped into your pool
expecting a safe, leisurely swim
but there were sharks
gathered at the deep end,
their rapacious, steely eyes
skewering me.
There is nowhere to go.
My pool becomes murky, less clear.
The shadow from my heart
completely fills in sometimes
I can smell the sweet milk
they bring you and I hear them say
one of your lungs is mine.
But I’m no duplicitous twin.
We’re in this together, for life.
Page(s) 24-25
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