William Gee

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sickness eats up every space for you

in some parts of this city you
the air that struggles through your chest
the way I could hold you right now but I haven’t

instead in the low hope of a sunday ending
a young man faints in our bathroom
head narrowly missing the cabinet thank god

but now we’re both approximating 
the volume of red that is not soaking our carpet 
the deep blue his shinbone is riddled with

in the morning you poach eggs for his body
spinach to bring up his iron and I sit 
inside of him like a church

thank god you still love me but how
between the thin peace of night and working day

pepper in our back teeth
crumbs in the butter
the horrible thud of how heavy I’m getting

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WILLIAM GEE‘s debut pamphlet Rheuma (Bad Betty Press, 2020) was the PBS Pamphlet Choice for Winter 2020. His work has appeared in publications including Poetry London, Tentacular and on BBC Radio 4. His second pamphlet, Trust Fall, is out with Out-Spoken.