The New Gynaecologist

A Prescription

Came as a refugee, can't dream
in this language, speaks
it with care, tells patients

olive oil is excellent for female
health, doesn't need to be
Extra Virgin, and he laughs.

Praises her uterus: most beautiful
in Europe possibly; on request
repeats the two strange c-sounds

in his name. Would rather be a surgeon
as before, handle sharp tools, cut
and stitch, watch wounds heal

Jots down 'Ajvar', difficult
to read on his prescription pad, red
bell-pepper paste from Macedonia

Good on bread with garlic. She needs
no medicine, he says, she is not old.
'You are the age of my wife.'

Shisa