Writing from the stemistry lab
In the museum of spare parts:
by Marilyn Longstaff
two resting rejects from Coronation Street
in confident rubber gloves
are scouring deep freezes
a relative’s camp-bed – under it,
rolls of neglect, deep dust,
an upturned bowl, spilt remains
of a fossilized umbilical cord
in a pool of solidified deep brown blood
an obsolete stem-cell harvester
with unwanted gone-to-seed crops lying
in abandoned petri dishes
to gain full understanding,
dress up as an embryo,
live one day in the life of a clone
embrace the full video experience of failed experiments
wear headphones, listen to the never-to-be screams
of silent humans.
In the canteen,
bossy dinner ladies humiliate dithering customers
who do not have the exact change.