
Written as prose:
The Fall
When old women fall, they lose their voice. Their legs go funny angles, all catawampus like Bambi on that frozen lake. And when they call for help, their voice shrinks, an echo in their porous bones, a wobble sound that no one hears . . . . . h.h.h.help. And I swear thatβs exactly how it was.
Written as verse:
The Fall
When old women fall,
they lose their voice.
Their legs go funny angles,
all catawampus like Bambi
on that frozen lake.
And when they call for help,
their voice shrinks, an echo
in their porous bones,
a wobble sound that no one hears
. . . . . h.h.h.help.
And I swear
thatβs exactly how it was.
Written for(Global/National Poem Writing Month) aka: Glo/NaPoWriMo Day 1 (a story about the body. The poem should contain an encounter between two people, some spoken language, and at least one crisp visual image), and Writers Digest, PA: Letter F, Day 1, A word using the letter F. Image is from WikiArt, The Fall of Phaeton by Michelangelo (1533, Rome), public domain. Β©Misky 2022 Shared with #amwriting #glopowrimo #napowrimo on Twitter
12 responses to “Glo/NaPoWriMo: Day 1”
This is powerful on all sorts of levels. There are so many great lines in this short poem it seems mean singling one out, but my favourite is ‘their voice shrinks, an echo in their porous bones.’ Well done, Misky πππ
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Thank you, Hobbo.
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You are very welcome.
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I was going to call that line out too. That followed by describing the cry for help as a wobble just made it so vivid. But yes, every line of this poem is grabbing.
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Thank you!
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Absolutely! π
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Everything Hobbo said! A deeply disturbing (in the best sense of poetry being disturbing) poem. And I loved that same line and I also loved the inclusion of “catawampus”.
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I wish that catawampus was in my frontal-lobe vocabulary, but it isn’t one that I’d use without thinking about it. π
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Yeah, we better ALL watch our step, eh? Welcome to April, Misky. See you around.
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Absolutely. See you.
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In that last line you brought it home. And you made me smile, knowingly. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for reading it, Selma.
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