Consulting the Doctor
What seems to be the problem ? He asks
in that slightly condescending tone.
Seems, I think, Seems.
It seems, I say,
that I have a problem with my inner fish,
or my inner fish has a problem with me.
My Eustachian tubes have closed to the world,
shut down, thrown my mind into the muffled zone,
like being underwater as if I were a fish
under the clattering bucket of my skull;
heart beat seems to be drumming the sides,
breath seems to crash over the shoreline of my throat,
and further more,
research shows Eustachian tubes come from fish,
a part of the gills, it seems, metamorphosed
over millions of years, to regulate pressure
for my frail little shell of an inner ear;
well, they seem they have failed, these tubes,
or perhaps succeeded,
they won’t let me listen to the radio news,
nor the arguments next door, nor my phone,
and there seems to be trouble out there,
it seems to be a problem with fear,
and violence is erupting, which is a problem
for all of us, whether it seems so or not,
and there seems to be another problem,
but ancient gills made my larynx too,
and these days I hardly know what to say,
and it seems that the seas are rising,
and the fish seem to have a problem with us,
and I cannot find the words to speak for them,
but I wonder, doctor, could we have enough
time to re-evolve our Eustachian tubes
to breathe for us before the coming
of the final flood ?
Angela Howarth Martinot used to teach English in Secondary School, now she teaches refugees. She still writes poetry and has had work published in various magazines including The North, Magma, IS&T, Tears in the Fence, and anthologies.