i am he shouted
as an emergency tourniquet
to his severed identity
you are i agreed
am i on the floor yet
he called falling backwards
spinning out of control
there is no floor i said
only space
he floated then
his umbilicus a distortion of air
tethered to primordial rock
i am right and i belong
he chanted repeatedly
seeking relief in metronomic effect
there is no sound in space
i said you must take the rhythm
from your foot-steps on earth
he closed his eyes
curled up like a foetus
when was your first haemorrhage i asked
at birth he said i wasn’t born
i bled from the womb
yet you survive i reminded him
can you stop the bleeding he asked
i can assist your suicide i said
if that’s what you want
it’s not he said there is an angry man in me who tries
but a compassionate woman who calms him
i bleed when they argue
then i said you must become their counsellor
are you the woman in my head he asked
maybe i said there could be woman in all of us
do you feel like a woman i asked
i don’t know he said
i want to love a woman
what does that make me
i mussed his hair
it doesn’t matter i said
you’re probably everything
it was mid-afternoon
the streets were empty
we were in a sleeping bag
on the floor of a bed-sit
i’m not he said tentatively
ready to yield to the swoosh of blood
but i’m more woman than man
when i think
i vanished then leaving him undecided and alone
trusting he would walk eventually
sit in the park and enjoy the sun
look for answers
write this when he found them
