WHOOSH!

My earliest memory, from the post-natal clinic in Grimsby and the opening poem from a collection I am putting together called

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

In the beginning the word was 
          WHOOSH!
It wasn’t a hush or a shush. It was
          WHOOSH!
It went very fast.
It went very smooth.
More than a word, it felt like a
          WHOOSH!
The air went 
          WHOOSH!
And I went 
           WHOOSH!
In the beginning the word was 
           WHOOSH!

Inside that grand and gloomy place
The windows were so high and far.
Distant sounds bounced around. 
What they meant I did not know.
But then I heard my mother’s voice.
And I was lifted oh so high, 
flying through that space.

I soared. 
I slowed. 
I stopped.
I fell 
All in a silent rush, becoming 
          WHOOSH!

I unfolded onto paper
Held within a metal pan.
I was weighed. 
The world was cold.
And the word for world was 
          WHOOSH!