I had to cut short my holidays in Switzerland because I've got Shingles, a virus that lies dormant in the body of someone who's had chickenpox. and can be triggered by stress. Apparently it's very common among people over the age of 60. Below is the first draft a poem about the experience.
A
wave of infection floods
neural
pathways along my western front,
up-sweeping
along its blad beaches
creating
a tidal line of porridge pebbles,
iridescent,
erubescent.
Eight
thousand mils of aciclovir and co-codamol a day
spill
me into a sleep of centuries
but no sleeping beauty,me-more
a hibernating selkie.
The
ugly beast awakes, itchy, raw,
rummaging
for fishy food,
half-full
bottle of shiraz
from my bedroom shore
and, eurax
to
rub gently on to wounds of scabbing sand.
Janet
Daniel
24
August 2014.
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