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GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
Helen Kay - Consultation
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter
MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle
ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief
ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries
MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness
Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense
Consultation
Helen Kay
You have just ten minutes, starting now,
for me to listen tactfully to symptoms
then grasp your real reasons for coming
to ponder twenty pathways for a lump
to touch places, to use Latin-named tools
and explain them, to compose prescriptions
selecting from a hundred brands of drug
to step back from the fact that your growth
may be terminal and you have young kids
to be your soothing medicine, to listen
to care deeply that you suffer no hurt
(which really is why I swore the oath)
to take punchbag talk not of my making,
then to type it all up before the next ten
and the next ten tens until we hit the target
of more casualties, more cuts, more sutures
and we carry on talking faster, typing faster.
No tears, tap, come again, tap, next please.
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