The unsayable & The colour white (mother)

 

The unsayable

Pruning the wild roses

Why? Is there any purpose?

each detail

Douglas outpatient

 

hospital for your psychosis

tarpapering over the window

 

before the roses fade

melancholia

meds, the fatigue

scarring lung sarcoidosis,

adult foster home, shelters

 

public curatorship

 

oh my daughter

how long has it been?

what is unsayable?

 

inseparable cloth woven

 

oh my daughter

why is it so important to you

what are we waiting for?

 

Youth court declaring:

Unfit mother

sole custody to father

 

daughters, five and three

son, five months old

 

walled garden,

rhubarb, dandelions

 

stones have souls, too

your kind of music

 

false promises

someday,

 

look     purple lilacs

 

The colour white (mother)

 

Sutures and clips

breast soaped up

under surgical lighting

incision area

where drainage tube goes in

stitched in place

 

I don’t want to see it

bracelet

the scars

I have so much pain,

 

the soreness

numbness

wearing a long t-shirt

the doctor is a butcher

but you know how afraid I am

 

daylight shouting at me

 

Can you hear it, Daughter?

no, there is no sound


Ilona Martonfi Author of two poetry books, Blue Poppy, (Coracle Press, 2009.) Black Grass, (Broken Rules Press, 2012). Published in Vallum, Accenti, The Fiddlehead, Serai. Founder/producer of The Yellow Door and Visual Arts Centre Readings, co-founder of Lovers and Others. QWF 2010 Community Award.