Nana Ollerenshaw: Two Poems

Tribute

Someone out there

crossmatched

A, O, AB, or B,

has gifted me

the closest kind of intimacy,

unpaid,

not seeking recognition,

just wishing well.

I watch red drops

my heart in flood

for the unknown soldier

in my blood.

Nana Ollerenshaw

The Goodbye Woman

A hand of green bananas

would surely see her out.

She’d soon not be about,

her little life well rounded with a sleep.

She thanked her doctors

one by one,

her specialists and pharmacists

for all they’d said and done,

threw away her x-rays, pills,

her blood results, and files

past testament to

months and years of trials.

She wondered if each coffee

was her last

and finally, reluctantly,

she gave away her dog.

Her mobile phone demobilised,

she tidied up her home

took a breath

and said Goodbye

to all her friends and family,

but … didn’t die.

Confused, perplexed,

because she had this extra time

she thought she’d try

a cruise, deciding someone else

could choose

what…