Welcome back for Zoeglossia’s Poem of the Week series curated this month by Raymond Antrobus.
March 15, 2021
Audio
Examinations
By Jasmine Cooray
View the full text below.
Examinations
By Jasmine Cooray
Cartwheels, if you would, at least one, or if not,
then cut some shapes on this dancefloor.
No? Ah - then let us see you carry home
your own shopping. Or please knead this bread.
Open this can of beans. Hold this pen and make
legible words with it, properly spelled if you would.
Our assistant will read you a joke from behind
a screen. Please laugh in the right place.
We would like to see you put on and take off
these non - elasticated clothes. We would like
to be able to imagine you in a sexual position
that we are familiar with. Please demonstrate
how little machinery you can use to get through
an average day. If you can, show us how closely
you can match this body of a similar age.
Feel no pain. Make us comfortable. Distract us
from our own softnesses. Describe the ways
you get by without the help of others:
sing the anthem of this sacred rule, and keep
your voice steady (we dock marks for quivering).
We did ask if you could refrain from making us
use our imaginations. Unfortunately my colleague
has noted an unwelcome sense of responsibility.
That wasn’t the point of this exercise.
No, that wasn’t the point at all.
This image shows the head and shoulders of a slightly smiling bald woman with 'olive' skin, black eyeliner and a black top. Behind her is a hanging scarf printed with brown and green feathers.
Jasmine Cooray is a poet, arts facilitator and psychotherapist. She has designed and facilitated creative writing projects in a variety of settings, including schools, colleges, and for organisations such as The Barbican Centre, the Southbank Centre, and First Story. She interweaves principles of self-care and self-exploration into her facilitation approach. Jasmine runs a private psychotherapy practice and is committed to making the tools of the therapeutic realm accessible to more people.