To My Cyst

Flu set you going

like a ticking bomb,

growing, growing

in the cramped space

between skull and brain

which I imagine

as like a crack in a tunnel

where a buddleia

tries to flourish.

You see them from trains,

that urge to grow,

or mushrooms in a shed.

You had food and water;

you would make it.

I was your host,

me, this me that cries

and loves and is typing

these black letters

on infinite space.

(Carole Bromley, Sodium 136)

To My Cyst (2020) is an autobiographical ode to a brain tumour after surgery by York poet Carole Bromley. It reflects upon how the process of diagnosis and treatment instils a sense of anxiety. This anxiety is captured in the ambiguity of tonality and irregular meter. As the poem becomes more reflective and the anxiety subsides, the piece becomes more lyrical, more settled, as the persona is filled with relief that her sight is restored and she can continue to write her poetry.