Paralysis

Evening after evening

she presses the hydraulics, turning the bed

in the shuttered room.

And each evening

in a Monet-style kitchen

salad leaves are chopped

in the proper way with a Moulis.

Honey added to the Dijon.

Guests note, climbing the stairs:

cut glass, pressed linen,

stencilled vine leaves.

Madame answers questions on:

the family's way of life - golf in the afternoon

and after three days

she speaks of her daughter,

who crashed her car coming home

bearing a trophy.

Paralysis in the other room.

Madame writes to the son in Australia:

we've had plenty of guests this summer.

The jasmine you planted is growing -

I think she catches its perfume under the window.

She still can't speak.

Your father, like a fool,

is building her a pool,

so, in the cool,

she'll glide

like a water-lily.

© Wendy Vacani

All rights reserved