Power

Fierce currents round my life
have dragged my feet and carried me
oceans away from my safe mooring.

I couldn’t stop my daddy leaving mummy.
I couldn’t stay in my secure old home.
I couldn’t stop my granddad dying.
I couldn’t stay in my familiar school.

But look! Now I have power --
something which lies within my sole control.
I can close my lips and make
fat vanish magically from thighs and hips.
I lie in bed, discovering new bones
which I have made appear, fingering
the purity of their hollow whiteness.

I can make the scales say less each day
I can send my periods away
I can make myself so insubstantial,
that now I have the power to go or stay.