Abigail Palmer

LOVE CHILD

slacken the curtains. don't
let the camera in before
i've heard your murmur
heave through collapsing
passages, try not to catch
your limbs on my triangular
shaking pelvis (remember
fingers through seven denier
stockings) forgive the aroma:
domestos on wipe-clean
tiles and yellow
                  yellow fear

i never pick you up. my knees:
an old blue sofa - damp
weight makes them creak
and plead. you are wet
all over, newborn fragrance
swamped in vaseline, still
your skin cracks.
worse, your hunger
makes me bleed, i switch
to powder, other mothers tut

Abi is a writer, performer and disability rights campaigner based in London, UK. She often writes about her own body, and her medical condition - Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. More of her writing can be found on the Fit to Work: Poets Against Atos blog and at www.abipalmer.com .