When I twisted my ankle
\nDuring the permitted morning run
\nOn Westminster Bridge
\n(the sound of the tide rushing out with no boats)
\nI delicately walked past
\nThe hospital where the prime minister
\nLies
\n(don\u2019t say dying).<\/p>\n
Police at the gates
\nPanic on the faces of people rushing in
\nID cards held aloft, to face the day.<\/p>\n
In front, a rainbow floral display
\nPerpetual plastic flowers
\nReads I [heart] NHS<\/p>\n
A worker gives it a glance, rushing.
\nDoes she think, like me
\nThat this effusion seems too close
\nTo a funeral display?<\/p>\n
Behind, three ambulances
\nAre lined up
\nIn the emergency bay.<\/p>\n
Across the road, a dozen cameras
\nA dozen operators
\nAnchors in suits
\nProducers on the phone<\/p>\n
Wait.
\nLater their broadcasts speak
\nOf war and \u201cfighting spirits\u201d
\nOf bravery and sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Down below, in the playground
\nOf the hospital daycare
\nA woman runs with a stroller
\nMask on her face
\nThrough the doors
\nWith the child
\nOn her way to work.<\/p>\n
Who battles:
\nWho sacrifices?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I twisted my ankle During the permitted morning run On Westminster Bridge (the sound of the tide rushing out with no boats) I delicately walked past The hospital where the prime minister Lies (don\u2019t say dying). Police at the gates Panic on the faces of people rushing in ID cards held aloft, to face […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pUfdR-dE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonpowell.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}