Mrs McC
Open letter to Mrs. McCafferty
“ How are you doctor?“ ..that’s how it always starts… I get it. Who could trust a sinful priest or a dentist with gum disease .
I feel like I’m choking on your expectations struggling for air under the homespun ,home -knitted shroud -you wear . I can still smell the woolshed floor on you
What can I do for you today, Glenys?.
Stern father, perhaps..… Peddling the snake oil of Hope from the pockets of a paisley waistcoat, health , wealth and happiness guaranteed, so long as you do as I say.. And be sure and tell your friends you’re under the doctor and I’ll weave kudos around me like armuored pants of dandelion fluff to protect me from your anger and disappointment.
Or how about best friend and confidant; "Ooh I know, oh I know… Have another tissue keep the box and don’t worry, I’ll try not to tell you anything you don’t want to hear…”
Or a lover perhaps… Your secret’s safe with me. What passion could be safer, breathless imagination powered by the slightest, electrifying caress of cold stethoscope on warm breast”
Or will it be that other fate… Worse than love… The one where you are the mother and I’m the victim, of your prejudice and your preconceptions and your largesse… –{“ I’ve left some scones with the girls for your morning tea. I just need my sleepers this time. I went off the pink pills because I’ve been going to the naturopath and he’s picked up a zinc deficiency and he’s put me on kelp and my waterworks are almost right now
And so I sit flaccid and powerless, doodling arrows, always arrows on my post -it notepad.
“For your heart you breathe in and out of a bag.
For cramp you put corks in your bed
Have you ever considered now Mrs. McC
That it’s just maybe all in your head
I met an undertaker, once, she told me she liked her job because she enjoyed working with people. Presumably they never asked her how she was
So don’t ask me Mrs McC, don’t ask me how I am. I’m angry and I’m sick of half-truth, artifice and other people‘s expectations…
How many times a day do you suppose can a lounge lizard change it spots before you get down to raw flesh?