She asked me if she took one pill for her
heart and one pill for her hips and one pill
for her chest and one pill for her blood
how come they would all know which part
of her body they should go to

I explained to her that active metabolites in each
pharmaceutical would adopt a spatial configuration
leading to an exact interface with receptor molecules
on the cellular surfaces of the target structures
involved.

She told me not to bullshit her.

I told her that each pill had a different shape and that
each part of her body had a different shape and that
her pills could only work when both these shapes could
fit together.

She said I had no right to talk about the shape of her
body.

I said that each pill was a key and that her body was
ten thousand locks.

She said she wasn’t going to swallow that.

I told her that they worked by magic.

She asked me why I didn’t say that in the first place.
.

© Glenn Colquhoun

Published in Playing God, Steele Roberts, 2002
Reproduced here with permission.

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As I posted on Saturday 17, I am currently refeaturing Tuesday Poems from the past four years “by poet”, i.e. focusing on those instances where I’ve featured more than one poem by the same poet. I am also doing so alphabetically (by surname), which makes the current poet Glenn Colquhoun.

I love this poem and wrote a detailed commentary for it in 2011 when it first featured. To check out the commentary and Glenn Colquhoun’s bio, please click on:

“She asked me if she took one pill … ”, 2011

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To check out the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.