David Mitchell


Poem for Shrijanna


Shrijanna
is very direct


she walks
in


& even
the small voices
on the TV
hush —

She looks
around


then slaps
the narrow lined
pad she is carrying
down hard
on the table


1 /2 / 3


then "gidday "
she says


to all who
care to listen


"Ow ya goin "



Brekkie


She
shaves me
carefully


showers me


& then
dabs me dry


She dresses me
in the clothes, she
has previously
laid out


firstly
white underwear


2nd
the chocklit sox
& beige
french soled sneakers


topped off
by a tracksuit
in some
light grey material


in zip up
mode.


I arrive
at the brekkie table


resplendent


more than equal
to the porridge, eggs


&
the highly thickened
cordial drink


Yuk!



David Mitchell has been in a care facility in Sydney for the last few years. He is unable to speak, is fed via a tube, needs a wheelchair to get around, but his mind is still active. Steal Away Boy, his selected poems edited by Martin Edmond and Nigel Roberts, was published last year by Auckland University Press. He has an author's page at the new zealand electronic poetry center (nzepc).
 
 
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