After cataract surgery
Daily she wakes to the infinite variations
clouds play on the sun, the sliver of light
between blind and wall no longer
a slur of soft pastel but sharp
as a quartz vein through a cobble,
bright as the bowl of the half scallop
she picked from the beach in Clachtoll.
She sees the jut of the light switch,
its small hooked shadow, the unblinking
screws on either side, how it has the look
of an owl, how when someone crosses
the landing the door flaps, briefly supplies wings.
She tests the bad eye, the nicotine sheen
that persists, remembers their first home,
smoke-stained cupboards that even
three scrubbings could not make clean,
closes that eye to make all bright again.
A three millimetre incision, narrow
as a baby tooth. Her vision become
falls of sari silk, surf breaking turquoise
in the sun, light splintered, gathering,
soft and precise as haw frost.
Sue Butler grew up a convent-educated Catholic and studied medicine in the time of Women's Liberation and of having it all: husband and sons, a career in General Practice – which was the inspiration for her debut pamphlet Learning from the Body, published by Yaffle Press. In retirement she took up walking and writing and has been published in the Hippocrates Prize Anthology 2020, in One Hand Clapping and on the Poetry and Covid site.
I spent a lot of time during lockdown reading poetry, as there was a break from rushed life. Poetry can be very personal, if not always, and I loved this as it talks not only about the situation the writer is in, but something about the person too. Thank you Sue
What imagery Sue!
And a reminder for me of what I saw while cataract surgery was taking place, a kaleidoscope of swirling colour.
This in particular: sharp /as a quartz vein through a cobble
Love this. You evoke so much with so few words - such a gift.