Kate Hendry

MR YOUNG’S LIST

I’m on Mr Cook’s list.

I say to a nurse
Why am I on
Mr Cook’s list? My surgeon’s
Mr Young.
Mr Young’s the one  

who knows me.
She says it’ll be him
don’t worry.
She thinks he’s in
today. 

Mr Cook comes. 

I’m your surgeon
he says, you’re due
a mastectomy
on the left?
Yes, I say 

but Mr Young’s
my surgeon.
Is he? Mr Cook says
I’ll see if he’s in
today. 

Mr Young arrives

an hour later.
I am so pleased
to see him
I say I’m really glad
it’s you  

and he says
of course,
it was always
going to be
me.

Kate Hendry’s poetry has been widely published in magazines, such as Mslexia, The North, The Rialto and Gutter. Her first pamphlet, The Lost Original, was published by HappenStance Press.