Good day, afternoon, evening, or whatever it is wherever you are. Today's poetry prompt from NaPoWriMo asks participants to write a poem that takes as its starting point something overheard that made you laugh, or something someone told you once that struck you as funny.
Well, you know me. I don't always follow instructions, and, after seeing today's April PAD Challenge Twofer Tuesday prompt, I turned the humorous portion of the prompt upside down.
Today's prompt asks participants to write a form or anti-form poem, so I kind of did both. I went to the following list of poetry forms:
I selected the Kimo, which is an Israeli three-line poetic form.
The lines need not rhyme. The syllable structure is 10-7-6.
I wrote a Haibun sort of thing with 100 words of prose followed by a Kimo.
Although I cannot share my Haibun here and now as I will be submitting it for consideration in the forthcoming Soul Ink anthology from Dragon Soul Press, I will tell you a little bit about it.
I wrote the Kimo first but placed it after the prose portion. Prose followed by a three-line poem is standard Haibun form. Using a Kimo rather than a Haiku or Senryu is non-standard.
The Kimo addressed a lover leaving and their partner deeming their departure a relief.
I found inspiration for the prose portion of the poem from this prompt:
The prompt contains poetry about flowers. I begin my Haibun by discussing the fact that the area where I live is very dry, so one does not see many flowers. I transition into a problem that I did not expect to encounter in such a small town. I use an upright walker to help support my lower back if I wish to walk more than about a quarter mile. The walker helps me to be able to cover longer distances without pain because it helps my spine stay aligned.
I've really never understood why people make such a big fuss about this device. People try to help me get it down my porch steps. One day, I would like to replace these steps with a ramp, but currently, there are steps. I always decline the offer, telling them that if I can't manage it myself, I shouldn't be doing it.
My walker has a seat, and one time I was sitting in an abandoned parking lot on the edge of town, looking at the sky and contemplating making lasagna for dinner. This well-meaning woman drove up asking in a very concerned voice if I was all right. I was a bit taken aback as I wasn't even having particularly deep thoughts, but I wasn't terribly offended about the incident as I am acquainted with this lady and she tends to fuss over people. I didn't think much more about it and made my way back through town, which is when things got really ridiculous.
I've told this story before, but it's been a while. This fellow approached me to give me a pep talk and tell me how if I just prayed hard enough, God would heal me of my ailment. I said I didn't have any ailment, I had just messed up my back working physically demanding jobs for decades and the walker allowed me to be able to walk more than short distances without my back hurting.
This man then proceeded to compliment me on my hair, which I had made the mistake of wearing down. He said, "you have beautiful hair. If we could just get your body to match your hair, you'd be a real doll."
I couldn't hide my outrage over this stupefyingly inappropriate statement. I felt like saying, "and if you'd shut your mouth, people might mistake you for handsome." However, I opted to keep the snark in check. I said, "I don't care what I look like." He looked at me as if I'd just said, "the moon is made of stroopwafels," and said, "why not? We do!"
I was wondering who this "we" he was referring to was, but opted not to pursue the matter. I said I needed to be going. His parting words to me were: "you need to believe in yourself, Honey!"
I'm not sure how I was failing to "believe in myself." I was only trying to take a walk, and other people were believing I wasn't capable of doing that without their unwanted assistance.
As if that wasn't enough, a utility worker who had just come out of the general store asked me if I needed a ride. I tried to make a joke of the matter, stating: "I'm just getting my exercise. If I don't, nobody else will."
My lame attempt at a joke was met with: "okay, but do you need a ride."
I replied, "no, thank you," while trying not to let him see my disgust.
That was October 2020. I have never gone for a walk using my walker again.
I tell this story because I think it's important that able-bodied people realize infantilizing disabled people is discouraging to us. Folks, believe me, I have done some un-fucking-believeably stupid, and I do mean STUPID shit in my time. One of my worst moments was shouting to be heard when a mute man came into the bookstore where I worked looking for a certain book. He gestured at his ears indicating that he wasn't hearing impaired. I felt, and rightfully so, like a complete fucking moron. This happened in the late '80s, and I still cringe whenever I remember it.
Another unforgettable moment of cringe-inducing stupidity was perpetrated by a twit on Twitter fishing for compliments. This darling lady in her early 40s wanted it affirmed that she wasn't "the oldest person on Twitter." No, Babycakes, not by a long shot. I'm 15 - 20 years older than you are, and there are people older than me who use Twatter. Who the fuck cares?
I didn't respond to this tweet, but I did respond to the one she made after several people (mostly men) reassured her that she was still attractive and "loved." Excuse me while I go have a jolly puke.
🤮
Seriously, if you're ever thinking about doing something like this woman did, just don't. You may be feeling insecure about your attractiveness or whatever. Don't most of us at some point in this image-conscious and youth-oriented society? However, if you refrain from fishing for compliments from strangers on social media, at least your dignity will remain intact.
The tweet I responded to was the one where she said something along the lines of: "hurray for mature Twitter! Let's all throw our canes and walkers in the air in celebration!" Which is surely a completely mature thing to say, don't you think?
At that point, this old owl was done with her jolly puke and was not about to allow this foolishness to continue unreprimanded. What I said was something along the lines of: "not all elderly people use mobility aids and not all people who use mobility aids are elderly. Further, forty is hardly ancient. Stereotypes about age and disability are a bad look."
I think that's about all the damage I can do around this pop stand today.
~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~
Ornery Owl really wonders about people sometimes. Like, seriously.
Here is what I was listening to while creating this post.
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