O Lord deliver me
o Lord deliver me
I’m waiting outside
in the corridor
staring at my trainers
on my jeans, a soup stain
reminds me of Italy
the drinks machine won’t give change
and I’m gasping for coffee
wheel-chaired women,
some groaning, some cursing,
roll into ‘delivery’
‘is that Isabel yelling?
sounds a lot like her
when she’s shouting at me’
I finger my fag packet
‘did dad smoke in Izal-stink corridors
while mum was in labour with me?’
I saw dad just once –
looked at his back as he walked away
I must have been no more than three
I’ve seen him in a photo,
standing tall in khaki
no face though,
a singed hole where
mum burned it away
I picture his arm round my shoulder,
“you’re a father now… cigar?”
would I follow his lead
and scarper like his dad
and his before him?
I stare at my face
reflected in a window,
my face stares back at me
if I walk away
no jury would convict
the judge would say,
“you had no example,
you can’t be blamed,
you are free to go,
without a stain”
leaving now might be more noble
than muddling through
a failing marriage
inflicting hurt on Isabel –
the child too
having them suffer
cold detachment from me
till I clear off
leaving a faceless entity,
the doors open
a groaning chair
wheels in
somewhere a slap,
a new-born squeals
too much noise,
too much fear,
I need fresh air,
a cigarette,
time to think,
a walk to clear my head.
© coolhermit 2023
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A soup stain reminds you of Italy?
I remember those days well. My wife and I wanted to store the placenta – a cut down cryogenics – just in case the stem cells were needed in the future. Both my daughters were born by caesarian and I had to help the team by taking the placenta and syringing the blood into vials, putting them into cooler bags and scooting them off to the waiting courier. And both girls decided that they wanted to be born past midnight; happy days!
Bhi
Well I needed something with 3 syllables and Italy fitted. I was never at a birth – my first was during those times when the man was unwelcome and after that the next 5 needed looking after – however number 7 was a home birth and he was born just as the midwife arrived – she had taken the time to fix her make up first. Our main concern was to keep her scissors from the cord until it stopped pumping from the placenta.
I have pmmed you – enjoying your poetry
Rick.
This is pretty heavy, Rick. Definitely one of your excellent “makes-you-think” poems.
The smell if Izal, hated it and their sandpaper toilet rolls.
Actually this poem really touched me, for reasons I don’t care to dwell on.
Brill stuff again.
I have a roll of Izal paper in its original wrapping – it’s Art to me 🙂
My mum obliterated all trace of my (biological) father from her photos of them as a couple.
The legacies we all carry eh?
Rick 🙁
That must be a collectors item now I guess.
well, I’ve collected it 🙂