how to survive suburban life

(poetry)

Aphasia…

I know what I want to say.

You look at me, befuddled, while

I repeat over and over again

that which I want to acknowledge,

understand.

I am telling you I am afraid

of this gradual numbness

up my right side where my skin prickles,

a half of me faded away.

My tongue, a fat slug in side my mouth,

writhes, to form the words

crowding my mind.

I repeat over and over again

all that I want to say!

I am panicked at

the look of bewilderment and concern which

registers on your face.

Clearly, you don’t hear

what I struggle to tell you!

I repeat over and over again.

Please hear me…

This is a sketch I wrote a couple of years ago in the poetry workshop given by my young poet friend, and as in drawn sketches have erased and substituted a word here and there to clarify things a little for myself. This is a germ of an idea based on a memory of a TIA(Transient Ischemic Attack) I experienced 14 years ago and which so frightened me.

I have posted this sketch for Jade Park (http://jadepark.wordpress.com) who is a woman writer describing her feelings about her stroke (at a young age) and her journey of recovery. We are not alone!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at