When I was little
I would sit
in the middle
of the gravel drive
and concentrate myself cataleptic.

Pale orange dress,
pattern: white blossom, green leaves.

I am not real.
I am not here.

A sense of dizziness.
The world is spinning out.
The universe is yawning,
and I am at the eye.

The garage,
the coal bunker,
Mr Kershaw’s fence.
The purple moor.

Not there.
Don’t exist.

Two universes,
one spinning out,
the other spinning in.

But I would only be cataleptic
until tea time.

Related information

© Anne Osbourn 2006. This is one of the pieces of poetry from an upcoming collection entitled Looking Up.

Read previous pieces from Looking Up published on LabLit:
Threads
Illusions

Professor Anne Osbourn leads a research team at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, studying the molecular basis of plant disease and defense. You can read more about her research here.

She was also awarded a NESTA fellowship to engage children with science via poetry.