5 July 1948 by Maggie Mackay

Hold on, hold on Aneira, youngest of seven,

and first born in a hospital. Hold on

for the midnight strike, to be firstborn,

to be named for Bevan, on the first day of the NHS.

We didn’t have the shilling and sixpence before,

don’t need it now. Down with charges.

Universalise the best. Do no harm, Mr Hunt.

 

Maggie Mackay, a Scottish lover of jazz and a good malt, is in her final Masters year at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has work in print and online including The Everyday Poet edited by Deborah Alma,Amaryllis, Bare Fiction, Indigo Dreams Publishing, The Fat Damsel, The Interpreter’s House, Prole, I am Not a Silent Poet, The Poetry Shed, Three Drops Press and Indigo Dreams Publishing.