Miss Gee by W.H. Auden

I came across these lines in Kathleen Watt’s engrossing 2023 memoir, Rearranged “Doctor Thomas sat over his dinner, Though his wife was waiting to ring, Rolling his bread into pellets; Said, “Cancer’s a funny thing. “Nobody knows what the cause is, Though some pretend they do; It’s like some hidden assassin Waiting to strike at you. “Childless women get it. And men when they retire; It’s as if there had to be some outlet For their foiled creative fire.” His wife she rang for the servant, Said, “Don’t be so morbid, dear”; They are from the poem, Miss. Gee. The link has a fine audio-recording.Note: W.H. Auden’s father was a … Continue reading

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Seborrheic Keratosis: A Poem

Seborrheic Keratosis by Fredrick Martyn* She didn’t care that his words stank like halitosis For she was blinded by the amorous amaurosis A relationship that had started with blissful symbiosis Had slowly turned parasitic like toxoplasmosis Alas, she could not outrun the poor prognosis Their connection soon narrowed like aortic stenosis Then it eventually happened, the myocardial necrosis And they split like a cell during the last stage of mitosis Her heart writhed like a hand with athetosis Her mood drooped like an eye lid with a ptosis She felt at a loss like hypovitaminosis A general sense of blue, internal cyanosis In time, the tears disappeared and instead anhidrosis … Continue reading

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