Hilary Tinsley
Message in a Bottle
I am ten centimetres long,
a naked gnome, wizened skin, old man’s skull,
born too soon to live.
I float greyly in formaldehyde.
I am example.
Here, but for the grace of God, go you, young women,
giggling through your biology lesson,
hushed to silence when you see me.
You exclaim at my perfect fingers, toes,
tiny imprints of nails, ears, pattern
of humanity. You notice
my severed cord.
Imagine who I might have been.
Recall today when they speak of
the foetus.
Page(s) 179
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