Auscultation

By Ilse Pedler

Pedler's style is realist, often fiercely so, with the conviction of one who speaks from experience. There are a number of fascinating poems about surgical instruments; scissors and clips, scalpels, gloves, whiffs of chemicals and disinfectants. As well as the operating theatre there are distant hill farms, pig pens, shearing sheds, stables, milking parlours, and freezing fields on winter nights. Formally the poems are also skilful and diverse.Ilse Pedler's poems in Auscultation, with their cool realism, challenging subject matter, diverse use of classical and free forms and entertaining incidents, are sure to please intelligent, discerning readers.

'Compassion, courage and conciliation are the hallmarks of this lovely, unaffected and affecting first collection.' - Kate Ashton, London Grip Poetry Review

'A book that is both pragmatic and tender, about listening and being listened to, and the types of care we give and receive' - Kim Moore

'Pedler explores the daily dramas and dilemmas of the consulting room, the operating theatre, the field, and brings in wider themes of scientific knowledge, family, fairytales, and belonging.' - Heidi Wiliamson

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Jul 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781781726273

Ilse Pedler

Ilse Pedler was born in Derby and grew up in Birmingham. She has a degree in Applied Zoology from Bangor University, a degree in Veterinary Medicine from Cambridge University and is a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. She now lives in the Lake District where she runs her own practice specialising in complementary therapies. Pedler has been longlisted in the National Poetry Competition and the Rialto Nature Prize and highly commended in the Hippocrates. Her pamphlet The Dogs That Chase Bicycle Wheels won the Mslexia Poetry Pamphlet Prize 2015.

Book preview

Visit to the Vets

I’m listening when I say how are you today?

I’m listening when I tilt my head just so.

I’m listening when I say hello to Fluffy, Sooty or Rex.

I’m listening when Rex pees up the door.

I’m listening when you get a text and text back.

I’m listening when you let your kids climb on the table.

I’m listening when you answer your phone say, I’m in the vets, I can’t talk.

I’m listening when you carry on talking.

I’m listening when you say I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong.

I’m listening when you say but I know he’s just not right.

I’m listening when you say you’ve looked it up on the internet.

I’m listening when you say are you sure?

I’m listening when you ask me to predict the future.

I’m listening when he growls and you say don’t worry, he won’t bite you.

I’m listening when he tries to bite me.

I’m listening when you ask me what’s wrong and I’ve already told you.

I’m listening when you start telling me about your other dog.

I’m listening when I’ve heard the same thing five times already.

I’m listening when I plug my ears with the stethoscope.

I’m listening when you say your job must be so interesting.

I’m listening when you say you vets are all rip off merchants.

I’m listening when you snap at your partner.

I’m listening when your kids go quiet and hold hands.

I’m listening to the sound of your self-importance filling the room.

I’m listening as your opinions start polishing their firearms.

I’m listening to the emptiness of your wallet in the silence.

I’m listening as your dead husband stands behind you putting

his overcoat around your shoulders.

Teach Me To Kill

Sit me down on a wooden bench

and let me hear the scream

of chalk on blackboard.

Draw me diagrams and flow charts,

give me a slate and pencil

and instruct me how to scratch them out.

Give me homework;

printouts and worksheets

that I can strike through with my coloured pens.

Indicate the important bits,

the bits I’ll be tested on at the end of term

in the multiple-choice question paper

along with my fellow students;

the hangmen, the slaughter men,

the ones who draw up lethal injections

who strap people to gurneys,

sit in the chair to test the restraints,

the ones with the electric paddles or captive bolt

and the ones who hover in the doorway

who