By Gerry Stewart
Title from a poem by Leah Martin
There’s a story here worth sharing
before it’s bitten off short, isolated
by swing doors slapping closed.
The words whisper over the dull tiles
in hygiene-slippered feet, so distracted
they bang into a trolley with squeaky wheels,
disrupting its supply of worries.
Only staff observe the muffled gasps
through the fingerprinted windows,
just beginning or winding down
with nurse-timed interruptions,
the knuckled grips of not letting go.
The unsaid catches in the throat
until we choke on too much air
and the sound of those three heavy syllables
empties the space between us.
Author:
Gerry Stewart (she/her) is a poet, creative writing tutor and editor based in Finland. Her poetry collection Post-Holiday Blues was published by Flambard Press, UK. Her collection Totems will be published in 2020 by Hedgehog Poetry Press. Her writing blog can be found at http://thistlewren.blogspot.fi/. Follow her on Twitter @grimalkingerry.
This piece is a part of DISTANCED 3.0.
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