until necessary open sky

my physical geography. my pin tight bad luck.
taking up space & overall human health my needs
annex. again, discomfort. sunk into balding pleather
fabric I hear there is nothing much we can do
& practice loss inside me. the beginning ache of always
waking very floored.
oh, reduced workforce,
dull your trust hard against me. I am unwanted
moisturised history & even my best nodding won’t do.
this underlying self. this always ill. this month, I’ll have
to pawn my coats. flowers will make it back & with them
spring.

a sudden move will cause aloud my largely quiet pain
like here I am.

under

life as an act of suppression. anything could happen
but nothing does. it is humiliating.

nortriptyline. nortriptyline.

the sound of no one making fists.

William Gee is a poet based in East London. His work focuses on chronic illness, trauma, and the intersectionality between the two. His debut pamphlet, Rheuma, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2020, and was selected as the Poetry Book Society’s winter pamphlet choice.