Krystelle Bamford
On Visiting the Sexual Health Clinic Before Work

Our neat nurse,

her shoes

like over-floured cakes,

separates us—

boy/girl.

We hold slips to say

we have been less

than careful.

 

What we hold back

is worth saying now:

this carelessness

had been our broken bread

some small hours before.

 

                 *

 

The waiting room’s light is:

             dark honey mixed

             into pasteurized cream.

or

             white fat

             cut with vinegar. 

 

or   (can we say it?)

       both: The honey and vinegar,

       the fat and the cream.

       The cream, fat, vinegar,

       and the honey, the honey,

       the honey, the honey.

 
Found In Volume 41, No. 06
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  • Krystelle Bamford
Krystelle Bamford
About the Author

Krystelle Bamford was awarded a 2010 New Writers Award from the Scottish Arts Council. She is currently pursuing an MLitt at St Andrews University.