Author: Sara Wasson (Page 3 of 11)

‘Flare*’, by amymillios.blog

September 28, 2018 / Sara Wasson

I’ve slept through Christmas. I shiver and pull the covers over me; sweat, and throw the covers off. My head bobs with nausea as I hobble to the bathroom to pee. The cats stay away, though at some point I hear them sliding across the living room floor, chasing that knitted ball with the bell. They sound far away. I sink into scalding bathwater—steam rising around me, my skin red—but it doesn’t feel anywhere near hot enough. I eat a deviled egg. Hear the glass of seltzer fizzing on my nightstand as I turn onto my right hip to relieve my left. Awake time for the day: 45 minutes. Sleep time: 20 hours. In-between these two: three hours of semi-comatose wondering, wondering if I’ll ever get back a bit of the life I once had.

*from “Sick Notes: The Story Inside the Illness: Memoir Meets Case Study”

by amymilios.blog

Link to Master’s Thesis on ProQuest

United States

‘The hook’, by Sarah Sasson

September 20, 2018 / Sara Wasson

Our minds latch to narrative,
it’s how we learn, remember, interpret.

I went to hospital to have a baby,
I should’ve returned more, not less.
Subtracted: my ability to rise, walk, move;
In my pelvis, broken bone.

What is the premise?

What is the character’s motivation?

What is the hook?

That feeling: ochre, electric, waist down.

The hook is me on the edge of my bed, listening for my baby.

My doctor: you will probably heal

what if I don’t

things that were part of me: walking, laughing, being in ocean.

My editor draws lines through this section.
[The pacing is slow, nothing happens]

Days are triangles between the bed, the couch, the bathroom.
Pain tethers me; a dog on a rope.

I’m on the bed trying to stand, the collar pulls my neck
to breathe or growl
I watch from the other side of the room how I’m changed.

by Sarah Sasson

WordPress: https://sarahsassonblog.wordpress.com/

United Kingdom

‘The Day That Never Ends’, by Mariana Gurgis

September 20, 2018 / Sara Wasson

From our window, the clouds seemed static, frozen. Orange-and-green taxicabs drove through the slush six floors down. Tilly whimpered, buzzed for the nurse, asked for Dilaudid, whispered “good morning.” Swaddled in her sheets, she breathed hard. Phenolic air. She asked me how I was feeling. We lolled in our beds, our mothers asleep in their wooden chairs, wrapped in winter coats, their heads dangling crooked.

Tilly and I began our daily walk—we could only ever circle the floor twice. We linked arms, dragged IV poles with our free hands. The hospital hallway was long, off-white, off-world, a nearly invisible trail of half-existence. Fluorescent light faked endless daytime. Supposedly, there is also no night in heaven. With every step, that sorry tube stabbed me deeper in the gut like a helpless thief. Blood drained downward into a bag wrapped around my knee. My insides, bared to all who passed by.

by Mariana Gurgis

Canada

‘SLEEPLESSNESS’, by Xie Licheng

September 14, 2018 / Sara Wasson

My grandma had 7300 sleepless nights
Until a Shanghai doctor said
‘You have restless legs’

Pills prescribed
Leaflet read,
Pramipexole Hydrochloride

The 1st good night’s sleep
In the 7301 nights.

by Xie Licheng

‘Early Onset’, by David Punter

September 4, 2018 / Sara Wasson

Like a tennis ace, all
Crisp white shorts, and shirts
Fresh every day,
He sits over the breakfast
Table, too big
For any chair, an elbow
Planted, a one-hand scoop
Of eggs and bacon,
Solid muscle in the arm
And thigh, his neck
A bronze pillar
Of glowing flesh.
And then you see

Slight tremor, and glimpse
The massive continuing act
Of self-control that holds
This huge frame
Together, prevents
Spillage, leakage, any sign
That one day soon
Tendon may spasm,
The merest lifting of a fork
An impossible task,
And are aghast
Before this terrible
Doomed dignity.

by David Punter

WordPress: davidpunter.wordpress.com

Anthology: Bristol: 21 Poems (published 2017)

UK (but written in the Maldives)

‘hail mary’, by Nicole Schafenacker

August 28, 2018 / Sara Wasson

she is in the sauna drinking coke and eating salted peanuts

one knee resting against the hot wood, silvery hair damp and sticking to her shoulders

we discuss midwifery and the what it’s like to catch a slippery baby

in your palms

she is standing in seal skin coat with white fur collar beside the church

mid afternoon sun coming through jewel red of stain glass window

holding a cigarette to her lips exhaling smoke and warm breath

casual flick of ash hitting the ice

i can’t say what it is about these chance encounters that reel me in

give me something to latch onto

but mystery in itself can be a sustainer for the curious

there is no such thing as “meant to be”

things are just happening – miraculous, mundane things –

and why do we need more than that?

all is as it is as it is, amen

by Nicole Schafenacker

WordPress: https://nicoleschafenacker.wordpress.com/

Canada

‘train tracks’, by anonymous

August 27, 2018 / Sara Wasson

this image shows a green field with train tracks running through the centre

for a split second
a thought crosses my mind

by anonymous

Canada

‘The Break of Day’, by Jacqueline Woods

August 26, 2018 / Sara Wasson

Pain paralyses.
It hurts too much to move,
to unlock, unhinge my joints,
put pressure on my tender limbs.

I will wait for my Carer:
my lover, my friend,
who will lift me from my bed,
magnificently.

My arms encircle his neck
as I breathe in the salty sunshine
of his skin, pressing my lips against
the cool ripple of his shoulder blade.

He carries me to a bathroom
of sunken marble and satin cushions,
a garland of candles guides our way,
I am Ophelia light: baptised, reborn.

His devotion will wash
the wounds of night away,
unclench the claws which trap
my dreams.

I will bathe in his tenderness:
my twisted hands and swollen knees
brave and beautiful
in his eyes.

All will be well
when he arrives.

by Jacqueline Woods
My poetry collection is available on Amazon: Jacqueline Woods, I Have Learnt

‘Growth?’, by @RoseClue, @ Advanced Wizards, @Watercolors,

August 6, 2018 / Sara Wasson

a watercolor image of a tree with five branches ,shaped like a hand, each finger one color of the rainbow, but after a certain point in the trunk each color becomes muddled together in a confusing mess. A caption in red block letters that “bleed” into the background like scratches reads, “from pain comes growth” with a question mark.

Where does it even start?
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know
How can I tell each apart?
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know
Where does it even end?
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know
Why isn’t my body my friend?
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know

by @RoseClue (twitter, instagram), @ Advanced Wizards, @Watercolors (facebook)

USA