[stylist] Barbara's prompt

[Barbara Hammel]

Thank you for the compliment.  I think I've always had it in me.


Barbara


Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.--Robert Frost
-----Original Message----- 
From: Ashley Bramlett
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 9:23 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Barbara's prompt

You are a beautiful poet Barbara. Have you always had this talent, or did
you learn it in school?

-----Original Message----- 
From: Barbara Hammel
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 12:13 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Barbara's prompt

  WHEN WORDS FAIL

By Barbara Hammel



MY words like silent raindrops fell.

How could I get them all to see?

I shrieked from sunup till sundown,

They were beside themselves with me.



I couldn't make them understand.

I couldn't show them what was wrong,

So I headbutted, scratched, kicked, bit

And hit and screamed the whole day long.



They scolded me for hurting them,

But tell me, what else could I do?

My words like silent raindrops fell.

I don't know how we made it through.



The only times I didn't shriek

Were those few hours when I would sleep

Or when Mama would rock with me.

For six long months I'd shriek and weep.



We saw the doctor many  times.

My words like silent raindrops fell.

He checked me out from head to toe,

He shook his head. He couldn't tell.



I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't drink,

At six I weighed just forty pounds.

I tried to say my tummy hurt,

But all they heard were oo-ah sounds.



They had no clue of hernias

Till Teacher saw the telltale swell.

But even after that was fixed

My words like silent raindrops fell.



Another long two years would pass

Before another cause was clear.

Helicobacter pylori!

A cause of ulcers, so I hear.



And even now, at ten years old,

My words like silent raindrops fall,

I think the words but cannot speak.

My words like silent raindrops fall.



Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -- Carl Sandburg





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