Diagnosis and prognosis…those meetings with consultants, the bearers sometimes of news that drops the bottom out of the world. And then there’s the world I can barely imagine much as I empathise, or try to. The world of the maternity and fertility clinic. It’s a world that’s beautifully and bravely written by women poets I love …Fiona Benson and Wendy Pratt especially. This is a short post with a short poem (if wordcount matters). I think it’s huge and resonant and heartbreaking

 

Cycle   :   Becky Cherriman

 

Your words clot,

heavy and obliterating as snowfall

and the facial expression you adopt…

Is this what is deemed to be appropriate, Doctor?

 

Too long have I clung on

for the saccharine pill of your wisdom,

for this,

 

for test results shuffled between sweatless palms

and luke-greened walls.

Not even the reassuring ear of the stethoscope.

Just, Unfortunately…

and a solitary bird in the tree outside calling,

ste r ile

ste r ile

ste r ile.

 

 

Becky Cherriman is a commissioned writer, creative writing facilitator and prize-winning performer based in Leeds.  Her work is informed by the belief that not only do writing and the spoken word help us to make sense of the world and our place in it but they provide us with the tools to transform our lives.

Becky’s poem ‘Jesus Lives’ was highly commended for the Forward Prizes 2018

Becky’s poetry pamphlet Echolocation was published by Mother’s Milk Books in February 2016. Her first collection Empires of Clay was released by  Cinnamon Press in November 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Becky Cherriman is a commissioned writer, creative writing facilitator and prize-winning performer based in Leeds.  Her work is informed by the belief that not only do writing and the spoken word help us to make sense of the world and our place in it but they provide us with the tools to transform our lives.

Becky’s poem ‘Jesus Lives’ was highly commended for the Forward Prizes 2018

Becky’s poetry pamphlet Echolocation was published by Mother’s Milk Books in February 2016. Her first collection Empires of Clay was released by  Cinnamon Press in November 2016.