8th March 2026

recording video

I should really check it works

before I post it.

© Rachel Green March 2026

Ten-minute appointment

to take a vial of blood for testing.

I don't know what they're testing for.

Maybe oestrogen? Cholesterol?

It could be chlorophyll levels for all I know:

I trust the doctors know why they asked for it,

and I hope it doesn't delay my prescriptions.

Prescriptions for statins, for thyroid underefficiency;

one for depression (it never went away),

another for blood pressure

A prescription for hormone levels

(I moan, I am a whore)

and one to stop my stomach bleeding

from all the others.

The drive back takes another hour.

All the traffic is at a standstill

roads closed without diversions or traffic lights.

At least it's just petrol it's costing,

and a piece of my shortened life.

If I was an American

I'd be facing a ten thousand dollar bill

and be automatically homeless,

but this is Britain,

where medicine is a social necessity;

not communism, just basic humanity.

In the 'States, six bodies are returned

from a war begun entirely for financial gain

while the leader of the country wears a baseball cap

and talks about his new curtains.

© Rachel Green March 2026