A motion of no confidence
Poem by Kazeem Olalekan
A motion of no confidence!
A motion of no confidence!!
A motion of no confidence!!!
That change in position of an object over time
That change in displacement
That change in distance
That change in velocity
That change in acceleration
That change in speed
The only constant is time!
Time changes everything
A binary year earlier, I passed a motion
I was tired, but who isn’t
There were no obvious signs
But deep down, I knew something was wrong
It must have been the difficulty of passing that motion
Without help, and the motion
Looking like a sausage, I delivered the goods
With cracks on its surface.
Now this! This motion, this faexit, this shit!
Splattered in red blood
But it has also changed colour
It is black alright! And the smell: awful
The pain: excruciating! And I am still tired, moreso now
My bowel habits have changed over the last months
And I needed help to deliver this one
Eight sachets of that orange drink in six hours
And then a little more, was what it took
To deliver separate hard lumps, like nuts
What loss. I have lost a great deal of weight!
I know what this is.
I can feel it in my bones, I can feel it in my soul
This is cancer. Yes the motion has passed
The faexit has been delivered
But the cancer remains
Lodged deep in my consciousness
But noxious to my tenaciousness.
And where do I go for respite?
My NHS, Our NHS: whatever is left of it!
I have no confidence in this motion!
I have no confidence in this motion!!
I have no confidence in this motion!!!
A motion of no confidence.