REVERSED | Elizabeth Osmond
Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn is defined as the failure of the normal circulatory transition that occurs after birth, with the newborn retaining a persistent fetal circulation and rendered hypoxic.
Fetal life
a memory of
swimming against the tide
ichthyic.
It’s topsy turvy
indigo blue arteries
low pressure of
oxygen
starved of
light, muffled sounds
lungs deflated balloons, inept. No
air, empty sacks, saggy
blood diverted, absent
unless
the placenta becomes redundant
lungs open like flowers to the sun
when the cord is clamped
now read in reverse
Elizabeth Osmond is a poet and neonatologist based in the UK. Her work has featured in Intima, Ink Sweat and Tears, Atrium and the Alchemy Spoon amongst others. She won prizes in the Hippocrates competition for Poetry and Medicine in both 2021 and 2024.