Time Line
by Odin odin@aflx.com — Read all 3,869 poems by Odin odin@aflx.com
A prosetry stream of consciousness
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Time Line
by Odin Roark
It might rain soon.
Rain comes in three sizes, you know.
Drizzle,
shower,
and storm.
Somewhere in the mix,
time hangs suspended.
That’s how I see it.
How I love it.
Then there’s what will happen,
depending on the cloud’s temperament.
Drizzle tends to bring out the quiet in me.
So, I write.
Showers usually ask I take a few deep breaths,
smell the freshened earth,
give some thanks. You know?
Kinda just sit there and be.
Now storms… they’re something else.
Troubling sometimes.
They can get feisty and not know when to stop.
Kinda like arguments that just keep getting louder.
You know what I’m talking about?
Looking out my window,
I can see the horizon darkening.
What is it they say… anticipation is
greater than reality?
Works for me.
Don’t need any more reality.
These tubes and wires hooked up to me
do just fine in that department.
Damn. It’s getting black out there.
Son of a …
These catheters have got to be the most miserable piece
of medical crap around.
But at least they take care of things… for a while.
Speaking of which, about time the nurse changed the collection bag.
Holy… Was that lightning? Lit up the room like a flash bulb,
and just when…
Oh, no. Clock on the wall. 4:31. Is it stuck?
Move second hand. Move, goddammit.
Oh, Jesus. That sound behind me. That tone just hangin’ there.
That miserable flat-line monotone…
C’mon!
Maybe a little drizzle.
A couple of showers?
I’ll even take a storm.
Just make a little more time, okay?
Love ya!
Jane
Fortunately, I am not hooked up to any electrical/electronic devices. And, when I wear a collection bag, I do have that concern, sometimes, about getting it emptied when there is no one around.
But my mind does a similar course of events every time a storm puts my electricity out and I am unable to make a call from my desk phone (it is on cable with no backup power), I don't know what time it is and lack of light after dark could be a real problem although my wheelchair still has a charge for about three days.
Hurricanes in this area have been known to knock out power for up to a month (happened to my office partner in 1983). Without air conditioning, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night once the temperature became higher than 87° (very often in the 90s overnight during summer). Communication with the outside world would only be through my caregiver/partner's cell phone and that requires charging nearly every day. Our development's water pressure comes from pumps requiring power.
Until I am able to get some auxiliary means of providing power like a generator or solar panels I will be dependent upon the whim of storms for some time and every time one comes up, my stream of consciousness will follow your poem quite closely.
Ron