The Friday poem: ‘My Iron Cervix’, by Claudia Jardine
Poetry for the soul
A pantoum by Wellington writer Claudia Jardine.
My Iron Cervix
Whilst muttering all for my sexual prime,
I lay on the bed and tried not to faint.
The doctor was having a hard time
so the nurse held my arm, a pre-emptive restraint.
I lay on the bed and tried not to faint,
fought the urge to give doctor a kick.
Nurse held my arm, a pre-emptive restraint,
frowned as my pulse and consciousness slipped.
Fought the urge to give doctor a kick,
but the fucking bit of plastic wouldn’t go in!
Frowning, as my pulse and consciousness slipped,
she stopped, and said your cervix is iron.
The fucking bit of plastic wouldn’t go in,
and the doctor was having a hard time
so she stopped, and said your cervix is iron.
All the more for my sexual prime!
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Claudia Jardine
Claudia Jardine (she/her) is a poet and musician based in Ōtautahi/Christchurch. In 2020 she published her first chapbook, The Temple of Your Girl, with Auckland University Press in AUP New Poets 7 alongside Rhys Feeney and Ria Masae. Her work has also been published in Starling, Sport, Landfall and Stasis. For the winter of 2021, Jardine will be one of the Arts Four Creative Residents in The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, where she will be working on a collection of poems. Photo by Gerry Keating.
