Poems by Anne Tannam (Ireland)

Published in The Ofi Press issue 43

All Fall Down

‘I’ve been clearing out.’

She handed me a bag full of pocket-sized tissues.

Twenty or more packets of tissues

some unopened, most with one or two missing in action.

I took them home, along with the gloves and scarves

she knew she wouldn’t need again

and took to using them

like the stash would last forever

down the bottom of school bags and swimming bags

jackets and coat pockets.

We took to using them

like they could be replaced

when the last one went missing. 

Seer

Just one eye, the right

not weeping exactly

more a steady watering

barely requiring a tissue

or any attention at all.

In her mind she registers

the beginning of this

phenomenon coinciding

with the arrival

of the word ‘Prognosis’

 pushes the thought aside

 though it still flickers

 like an unwelcome image

 burning her retina

 a premonition of things to come.