My Name Is?
I’ll never start with a title – I was just innominate
spawn [we’ll tag those delivered in a ward] & my
home birth – end of New Road – it was less label
& more unexpected – my fleet drop [’round four
o’clock] & then back to tea & cakes [once blood
& parts were mopped up by Aunty Betty] & my
youngest was born at home – in a birthing pool –
such ridiculousness – apes don’t float!/ & a rude
indignity for my eldest in a [Soviet-esque] ward
in Croydon/ That midwife’s slice was not love or
care – we were left alone [without a vade mecum
after her knife was wiped] Latin will still fail me
& [please God] do not steal my recalling names
until I’m ready to return [being labelled by a tag
will do for me there] – none will know my name