Tuesday 27 October 2009

re Poem

Bus 37 - Shudehill to Eccles


“Not due for her biopsy

scan ‘til next week”


-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^


“Able to go out for an hour

at a time each day...”


A dark lady with a meerkat expression

casts a dark glance at the bloated belly

of the loud-talking man on the phone


before


turning to concentrate on a photo;

the image of a baby, a wrinkled raisin

peers back -


she smiles


The bus hisses and throttles

through Industrial action bottle-

neck


of traffic jam

like the fatigue fogging

my mind


“The doctor thinks the problem with the kidneys

is nothing to do with the eyes”


-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-


“... the kidneys are down by 70%

but he reckons it’s not actually kidney failure...”


Mind wanders,

head jerks forward,

as the bus swerves round


bounds


through just-turning-red light at the roundabout

charging towards Eccles

Interchange.



Catherine Mark

11 comments:

TERI REES WANG said...

I sense fear here, and a crippling defeat.

Rush said...

u travel a lot by bus, don't u??

i can capture the momentum...like as if i was there...a silent spectator to everything

Maithri said...

Everything ok my friend?

Your words here are searingly powerful,

Warmest love to you,

M

Anonymous said...

This piece is personally moving and takes me back to a nearly identical conversation I had with my father on the telephone. My son's kidney disease was spotted via ultrasound before his birth. Sometimes it's better not to know.

If I overheard the woman on the bus, I would have listened to the end, but said nothing... carrying the conversation with me for a long time, as I will today.

Ananji

Khaled KEM said...

Hi Catherine,

Thanks for your kind words. I enjoyed this piece of work and I like your creativity in style. I do not know if you send some of your work for publication or not? I guess you do although it's a long and slow process. Keep writing and writing because you definitely have a talent and unique style my friend.

Best wishes.

Khaled

cheryl said...

I hear the conversations people have with themselves in a crowd. You captured the moment perfectly, Cheryl

Judith Ellis said...

Wonderfully written. Great imagery. There is unrest and uncertainty here. The inner life of one vividly depicted, emotionally and physically. Bloated male belly, baby, and wrinkled raisin, hmm? This strikes me as dreams deferred or aborted. Well done, Catherine. Hope all is well for you. I have not passed through here in a while. Peace and love to you, friend.

Cynthia said...

Authentic, visceral. You're
excellent at getting within.

Laurie said...

Now that is a seriously good poem. I, too, enjoy listening to snatches of conversation, but wouldn't have been able to express it as well as you. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Best wishes

Laurie

A Cuban In London said...

'A dark lady with a meerkat expression

casts a dark glance at the bloated belly

of the loud-talking man on the phone'

I savoured that description so much. Many thanks.

Printemps said...

Poignantly beautiful!