Poems from Elle's perspective

Emergency department, room two

Relief flashed across her face.
In a world where everything was screaming past
in a fury of the unfamiliar, she recognised us.

She asked us to explain the unexplainable,
and we tried. The role reversal was an ill fit,
awkward, uncomfortable.

She asked us to explain the unexplainable,
and the repetition weighed heavy,
drawing down the edges of our carefully cultivated smiles.

She asked us to explain the unexplainable,
and we learned to trot out answers
like schoolchildren rote-learning the alphabet.

She asked us to explain the unexplainable,
every time the first time again,
a sick cycle of deja vu.

And when the doctor gave us the diagnosis,
carefully repeated in unison,
"Transient Global Amnesia",
there was a deep sense of disbelief
because amnesia only happens in movies, right?


Free verse. Written 25 April 2016.