Joseph Robert was longlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize 2015.
His poetry has been published in numerous print and online magazines in
the UK and US and his joint poetry chapbook with his poet wife,
Leilanie Stewart, has been reviewed in Sabotage Magazine. Website: http://writeoutloud.net/
That
Life-Loss Thrill
‘What’s
with the attitude?’ you’re thinking,
Well,
it’s the sump pump pumping out fear and devotion,
From
the rotted depths of my heart,
Grrr,
Anxious
to mourn, but incapable of it,
I
must be fighting to understand the years of stolen time,
When
I poured my pride down the mouth of a cult,
In
exchange for wretched identity, hand-me-down hate,
And
a pinch of praise, manic yet false,
I
get giddy,
Flying
in chaos, emptiness cyclones round this present day,
Lift
me up to what I hate,
For
the pleasure of rebellion,
Is
too warped in my grain,
To
leave off loathing what I was once,
Even
though I’ve changed,
I
swear it,
I
have,
But
still,
I
swoon at the regular cold breeze,
Of
that life-loss thrill,
‘Am
I ill?’ I demand,
Them
I contradict then, whatever they dare say
Sick
And Healthy
nobody
listens to my logics over lunch breaks
on
the subject of why their bodies are falling apart
physically,
Sick and Healthy
are
double-headed twins, joined at the hip
an
irradiated abomination sprung from the loins
of
Lady Medicine, after a rough prodding
by
Capitalism’s prick
Healthy
develops wonder drugs and salvation surgeries
Sick’s
the profit motive that makes a mint
managing
chronic symptoms, but never curing them
to
keep us coming in, to keep us paying out
enjoy
slapping on nicotine patches then
wash
those statins down
with
purified soy milk and cheap cheat day bourbon
bathe
in warm antidepressants, gargle comforting research
go
take an organic dirt nap, Death
you
abusive uncle of Sick and Healthy and of us
we’re
as unsure as they are
so
we obey doctors like priest kings
confess
your history, cough up your copays and pop your pills
whether
you’re sick or healthy
pay
their goddamn bills
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