DAY NINETY-SEVEN – Annie Freud

Diagnostic Imaging

I was in the
waiting area
and noticed
a pool of blood
on the floor.

More patients, arriving
to check in
at Reception
with their documents,
saw it
and walked round it.

A man in a cap
halted at the edge
of the pool of blood
looked left, then right,
to see if any
one had anything
to say
but no one did.

 

Annie Freud is a poet and artist. Her first collection The Best Man That Ever Was (Picador 2007) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and was awarded The Dimplex Prize for New Writing (Poetry section). The Mirabelles (Picador 2010), her second collection, was a Poetry Book Society Choice and was short-listed for the TS Eliot Prize. Her poems have appeared in many magazines and websites. Her third collection, The Remains, was published in June 2015 and has been awarded a recommendation by the Poetry Book Society. Annie has been named by the Poetry Book Society as one of the Next Generation Poets 2014, and is renowned for her live performances.