The Friday Poem: “discharge notes (ii)” by Amy Marguerite

A new poem by Amy Marguerite, whose debut poetry collection, over under fed, is out now with Auckland University Press.

discharge notes (ii)

a few years ago i decided i’d write

a list of all the women i owe my life to

even the women who have hurt me

a lot like claudia. it was overwhelming

not to write to carry so i deleted the

phone note wrote a letter to claudia

instead. gratefulness is sore you can’t

ever expect anyone to feel how they made you

feel especially if they’ve never almost

been dead. jean didn’t recognise my sister

at the shop said you must have gone

to school with amy but she looks so much

like me even i see it now the way i

still have a problem with things that just

keep mattering like buying normal coke.

jean’s gone home now anorexia went

when i buried the tube in the ground

doing well and gemma died that day.