A new poem. Feel free to share it with young or old...

The Whooshing Sound




The doctor asked me to sit still

and then he handed me

a thing that looked a bit like a plug

and asked me to put it over my bellybutton.




I did that.




Then he attached a tube to the plug

and switched on a machine.




There was a whooshing sound.




For a while nothing happened

but then I started to feel my belly

swelling up.




‘You’ll feel your belly swelling up,’

the doctor said.




‘Yes,’ I said.




It felt a bit like having a tight belt on

or maybe having a bit too much to eat.




‘It may feel a bit like having a tight belt on,

or having a bit too much to eat,’ he said.




‘Yes,’ I said.




I went on swelling up

and I started to feel light,

as if I wasn’t sitting so heavily in the chair.




The machine went on making the whooshing sound.




Then, very slowly, very gently,

I found myself lifting off the chair.




‘Were you expecting this to happen?’

I said.

‘Yes and no,’ the doctor said.

‘What happens when it’s a no?’

I said.

‘Oh...sometimes, it leaks,’

he said,

‘I’m in the air,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ he said.




I was floating round the room.

‘Oh,’ he said,‘did I weigh you?’

‘No,’ I said.

‘It’s a bit late now,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I wouldn’t know how to come down

from up here and stand on the scales.’

‘What’s your date of birth?’ he said.




‘Is my date of birth the same as my birthday?’

I said.




The window was open.

I looked out.

I don’t know if it was because I looked

or if it was because of the way the wind

was blowing

but I found myself drifting towards the window.




‘I think I’m floating out of the window,’

I said.

‘What did you say was your date of birth?’

he said.

‘I am floating out of the window,’

I said.




‘Is it, the 4th of June 19..?

I didn’t catch the rest

I was out the window and

too far off.



Too far away.