Friday, May 8, 2009

Poetry Friday

My favorite types of poems are witty, lighthearted, and humorous. I usually write poems that rhyme or are a little zany, but sometimes writing personal poetry is therapeutic for me.
Today’s poem stems from my personal experience with my child. My daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy almost three years ago. She would have seizures occasionally during the night and is currently on anticonvulsant medication. These episodes affected me greatly. It is horrific to see your child in convulsions and so out of control like that. Also, since it was during the night, I would constantly check on her and rarely slept. I do have a baby monitor on every night still so I can listen if she has a seizure. I am thankful that they are during the night though so my husband and I can deal with it alone, and she is safe in her bed during them. She doesn’t remember them, so I am also glad that other than taking medicine, she is not affected too much by it. Even better news, she has not had a seizure in almost a year!
Anyway, this intro is way longer than the actual poem I am sharing today. My cinquain is below. Anastasia Suen is hosting Poetry Friday today at Picture Book of the Day . Next week it's here! Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done, I hope all you moms have a fabulous Mother's Day!


SEIZURE IN THE NIGHT
I gasp.
Epilepsy
Grabs her body with force.
Her eyes look vacant. Mine scream in
Terror.

---Kelly Polark


NaPiBoWriWee Update
My 7 Picture Books in 7 Days challenge has come and gone. Unfortunately I had an extremely busy week and did not even finish ONE picture book. I did however write 10 poems for my newest poetry collection and wrote a few pages of another picture book idea. I am glad I participated, because I would have gotten ZERO picture book writing done this week if I didn’t have that goal. So YAY to Paula Yoo for challenging me and so many others, and YAY me for getting some writing done during this crazy week!