Yellow Tube

I am delighted that my poem Yellow Tube is longlisted for the Aurora Prize for Writing 2023. The Aurora Prize is a national competition run by Writing East Midlands, in partnership with the Society of Authors. You can discover more about the competition here.

Yellow Tube

she is asking me nicely politely to hold my baby tightly and feed the yellow tube up his nose she wants me to push it up and round so it goes down and into his stomach his pleading eyes his soft seductive cries make no odds to her his opinion will not be heard and nor will mine I’m a conduit I’m a mother he is my son but we are two voiceless ones joined together by surgical tape and the pricks of needles his hand curls round my finger asking oh how will it be done and the noise like a lullaby the unit goes hum drum hum

image courtesy of Satynek/Pixabay