On learning your sperm count is zero.
On learning your sperm count is zero.
A spoken-word poem about azoospermia.
With permission from the author, Elis Matthews, this week I'm sharing a poem, "Zero."
I found it very powerful when I first heard it. I suggest listening to the audio version first, then reading the words, reprinted below.
ZERO
‘Zero’
That was the word that stuck out
and stung my ears
like a wasp buzzing across the doctor’s consulting room.
Zzzero
‘You have zero sperm’
Erm… come again? how many?
Zero, none, not any?
It’s a funny word that
ZERO
and in the context
of sperm where one might expect
a few million
or at least hundreds and thousands
of swimmers sprinkled
in the samples I’d deposited
in the closeted
hospital offices
which in some provinces are called a ‘masturbatorium’
no that’s a true story – umm…
But back to that room and that wasp and that
ZERO
and to say I’m surprised
that you’ve analysed my supplies
and couldn’t find any little guys
nothing but ZERO
well, that analysis
leaves me in paralysis
and I just sit there in gobsmacked awe
eyes glazed over
gaping jaw
which just about closes
as you repeat the diagnosis
‘You have zero sperm’
And to give her her due
the GP does
(as GPs often fail to do)
put it in laymans terms
zero sperms
At least it’s clear – whoa
did she really just say zero?
It’s a funny number
ZERO
absolute, final, clinical, cold
somehow less than nothing, zilch, zip, ZERO
and though it’s just a number on a page
it hits me like a judgement
like a wave
pointing the finger straight at me
as if this infertility
which is mine
which belongs to me
is an indictment of my masculinity
and so it cuts the core of my identity
for as it happens I’ve always had no sperm in me
zero nada
just like lady gaga used to say
‘Baby, I was born this way’
So is this who I am? how I was made?
The ZERO man? a nobody? a shade?
And besides the wave of shock I am dismayed
The dreams are put to bed, the plans we made
of baby names and timeframes all are laid
to rest. And things get even squirmier
when I begin to google AZOOSPERMIA
(The fancy name for having Zero Sperm
A word I wish I’d never have to learn.)
And yes, I know, it sounds bloody ridiculous
A ZOO should have at least one hippopotamus!
But this one is
an empty jar of jizz
a gun without bullets
Prosecco without fizz
Jazz without rhythm
all boiling down to
ZERO.
A funny place that
ZERO
It sounds like a literal dead end
The end of the rocket countdown
The end of the road for our plans of parenthood
The end of the dream.
But ZERO is also level ground
rock bottom from which to build,
a starting place, a foothill,
to reconstruct life as it is
to come out of the closet
face bloodied and
face the muddied waters of existence
to walk honestly
ZERO is a beginning
from which I think I can start living.
© Elis Matthews, 2018
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