Ultrasound

twinkle twinkle little bat

I know what an ultrasound is

scoffs my Mother -  the nurse - on the phone 

Trying to sound not completely unoffended

My mind scrabbles to think when it might

have been invented

But then just stops wondering

It’s like sonar for tummies

The mysteries of the stomach revealed

Ghostly apparitions brought forth

By medical medium

Harnessing electronic apparatus

Now-a-days ectoplasm is applied post-fact

A ritual of remembrance

Of times when it was easier to fake it

You see

Yesterday my surprisingly long-legged son

Had lain on the vinyl, paper-towel covered couch

I had, initially sat at a distance

On the chair in the corner of the consulting room

Then coming to my senses

Moved to the chair by his side

The operator/ advanced radiographer/ specialist examiner

Asks him to pop undone his surprisingly long school trousers

The jell is applied

The transducer slides across the surface of his upset tummy

Signals are beamed back from the edges of the cosmos

To the screen by her side

There’s a lovely; liver

And look even dad can identify a kidney

Kidneys are easy to spot

Even in outer space

Last time I saw an ultrasound

I was looking at you I remark

Suddenly aware of the scalding self-consciousness

A slap in the face

As if you didn’t already feel like a specimen

Having obeyed all instructions

Not eaten for eight hours

Having drunk two pints of water

Dad then let you go to the loo

Moments before the technician calls you in

Now the bladder will be empty

Though she doesn’t dwell on my mistake

I see a flash of something like

Sheesh some people cross her face

So how do you become an ultrasounder I ask?

Impressed by her fluency at decoding

seemingly random patches of light

into bodily organs and a clean bill of health

Trained in x-rays then after a year in submarines

decided to make the logical leap

I fathom internally

But here I am by your side

Just as I had been at your mother’s

Boys are easy to tell

The operator had said then

Now you’re gathering yourself

Swinging around and sliding back down to earth

Onto your Rumplestiltskin

Surprisingly long legs

Thanks you say or was it bye

As you disappear behind a closing door

Back into the odourless air of real life

How I wonder where you're at