Reagan

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Poem Commentary

My granddaughter has been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, various other anxiety disorders and Asperger's Syndrome.

Reagan

I sat in the lobby with my daughter and granddaughter
Waiting for the doctor to call them in
To prescribe the drugs for my granddaughter-
Just seven--that I am sure are not good for her
But then, what do you do?
Thgey are the lesser of two evils after all.
The young man across from me
Droned on to his Cuz
About paying his delenquint cell phone bill
Cos he is financially stresed right now
No job and dam' judge making him take rehab clases
Yoiu knoiw he don't do nuttin' like dat.
I reflected on my granddaughter
My daughter and the crooked table leg across ffrom me.
I wanted to just go fix that crooked table leg
And while I was about it I would line it up
So it parallelled perfectly with the pattern in the rug--
A faint stripe, not colored, just ribbed but lined just the same.
And that stupid table wasn't in line and it's loose leg,
Protruding dumbly, just asking to be straightened,
Beckoned to me, and still I sat and pondered
If I fix it no one will ever know it was crooked
But if I don't fix it, will anyone ever notice it is crooked,
It's leg jutting just off-kilter enough to look out of place
Will anyone else fix it?
And yet I sat and I began to think
About the granddaughter again, her need to communicate
To be able just once to say why it drives her crazy
When things are not straight, not aligned, not matching
When the seam on the end of her sock lies wrong across her toes.
I glance at the red-haired man just adjacent to me
He was quiet, no phone, no nervous tics, just calm, waiting
I wondered if knew the table wasn't alignede
The rug and the edge of the table didn't parallel
Did he care? The doctor called the red-haired man
We waited just a bit longer.
My eyes going back again to the table, the rug and the jutting leg
My beautiful, dimpled girl, why can't someone fix her?

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willaj1978 commented on Reagan

01-13-2011

Reagan is so special. We love her no matter if she can be fixed or not and she knows that.

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet.

copergirl’s Poems (12)

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The Play:The New Me 2
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THE APPLE 6
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Ode To the Vanishing Hills 8