Guest Poem by Elaine Jarvest Miller

Elaine’s pamphlet Angel in my Underwear was published by Acumen in 2013, and her poems have appeared in The Broadsheet, Molly Bloom, Acumen magazine, and the Play anthology. Her poetry usually centres on the human and personal: love, relationships, mythology and fairytale, with a smattering of science. Originally from Surrey, she read History at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and works at Exeter University library.

Like Sunrise

My uncle said
it could come at any time,
the knock on the door.
The policeman, the waiting car,
the high-speed journey through pre-war London.

That night there was no time,
no time for the usual procedures.

They took him straight to the hospital bed,
to the pale young stranger,
her face as white as snow.
The needle stabbed his arm,
and the tube was connected
from his vein to hers.
The room held its breath
as the rare blood flowed.

Then he saw a faint pink flush
spread over her skin.
Life flowed from him to her,
life returned,
like sunrise, like springtime.