The Unforgotten Twin
By the window, a wheelchair
turns its back on the beds to give
a birthday moment of normality.
How old are you, Olive? says Nurse.
I’m sixty eight the wheelchair says.
Oh bless her, she means eighty six.
And how many children, Olive?
Three adults at her knee await
the answer, give it for her:
three they smile in unison.
Their mother firmly contradicts.
No, four. I had four.
Kathy Gee lives in Worcestershire and has a parallel life working for museums and heritage. She’s had some forty poems accepted in magazines and is thinking about a pamphlet. She enjoys performance and her occasional blog www.wordstring.co.uk is an experimental vehicle for poetry videos.