Porterhouse Blue

Private health care – a phone call away
to check the tariff please press one
having a baby, press two

slipped disk lie flat on your back, heart attack
quit smoking, spit out the orange
and remove your silk tie

email a photo and we’ll test you online
check blood-pressure, stress level, weight
and cholesterol

ask you to sign the donor form
and return it with your medical history
age, gender, ethnicity

plus a blue eye and fresh kidney
to qualify for a shiny new crutch –
buy two get one free

and enter our lottery to win a plasma TV

Born in Surrey and experiencing a childhood split between North Wales, Cornwall and London, Angela was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize in 2009 and was included in Seeking Refuge, an anthology in aid of the Cold Weather Shelter. Her work has also appeared in South Bank Poetry, Iota, Obsessed With Pipework, The Rialto, and will appear in the forthcoming The French Literary Review. She has worked as a journalist and press officer and is one of 11 poets included in a new anthology, Ordinary Magic, published by Poets Unlimited. Porterhouse Blue was first published in Orbis in May of this year.

Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter