In Deep Remission
I’ve been given permission
to be in remission,
deep, deep remission —
but what does it mean?
Does it mean the excision
of my cancer condition
has come to fruition,
my body is clean?
Was it careful nutrition
or focussed ambition
that brought this ‘remission’
which I’ve never seen?
I have strange inhibitions
about this remission —
was it outright permission
or a bit ‘in between’?
When they gave me permission
to be in remission
was there any omission,
or might there have been?
Who made the decision
to grant me permission
to be in remission —
and what did they mean?
Gill McEvoy is a Hawthornden Fellow. Her second Cinnamon Press collection is Rise ( 2013.) Gill runs many poetry events in Chester where she lives.