Published poems by Veronica Ashenhurst, who has Severe ME

https://twitter.com/user/status/1744665692656292310

Published here.

No prizes for guessing who the S.M. of the poem is, and I was deeply touched to have such a wonderful poem written for my birthday.

Thank you, Veronica.

 

Hi S4ME Poetry Readers,

It has been a tough year for me so far, as my mum (who is my caregiver) and I got COVID at the end of January. The infection was very hard on both of us, and it has taken me several months to return to some form of ME/CFS baseline. It saddens me that so many folks have simply adopted a "COVID is over" narrative. The virus remains serious. As a result of the setback, I have not been able to write as much poetry as I might have liked. That said, I do want to share one poem of mine that was recently published. In the poem, I've aimed to weave together aspects of the ME experience with some themes from Shakespeare. I hope you enjoy it.

Quintessence of Dust

A friend sent Hamlet. But my cells contain
a tyrant who made me set the play aside,
for he metes out strength in scraps. Yesterday,
I washed my hair, my heart sped, I lay down.
Now, I turn in bed for Act II, press play,
hear Denmark’s prince say there is nothing
either good or bad but thinking makes it so.
I flinch at the words: they seem to mock
my faithless limbs. Still, I sit up to view
the dusk, winter’s pearl. Disease has taught me
defeat, and here, by rose light, I glimpse
the body’s opposites: this fallen clay —
yet, also, this soliloquy on being,
taut and wistful as a violin.


The poem appears in the Spring issue of MORIA Literary Magazine, edited by the students at Woodbury University in Los Angeles:
https://www.moriaonline.com/issue-t...6/quintessence-of-dust-by-veronica-ashenhurst