Kathleen Wenaden is a mother, medic, pilgrim, and poet. She is a GP in Hackney, London, and is nourished by writing poetry. She is on Twitter/X: @Kathleenwenade1
This poem is the one I don’t want to write
This poem needs to be written, deep down, lived
This poem is layers and layers deep, immersive
This poem is the one I live daily, mundane
moments of joy, family, tasks.
This poem. No, that poem is the one I long to write
Yearn for, yearn to, would happily sell my soul for
This one is the one I want to meet you and you and you,
And for all the others I have seen and lost
For the young people at Elsdale who grew up too fast, too soon.
This poem is the one I want to write a life for,
And perhaps it is time –
The one below the pavement tarmac, the hard crust
around my heart, the one there the brook bubbles
Deep, fresh and clean. The one where my room is
Clean, simple, free. Where the sunshine radiates,
dazzles and illuminates, where shadows sweep across
my page, the one where butterflies stop and hover,
the one where poppies boldly face the sun.
The one where this one bows her head and stops.
Still. Can you hear her?
Featured photo by Corina Ardeleanu on Unsplash.
