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
These poems express Ilona Martoinfi’s true poetic voice, she is a poet of witness and truth, the voice of people who have been oppressed by the State, other people, family members. She is someone worth listening to for poetry that matters.
Thank you Stephen. Very best wishes, Ilona