Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
Wretched
This cough
Grates
On my chest
Leaves me
Unsteady
Anxious
In freefall
-
Dizziness stings
Seconds displaced
-
Chest and lungs
Unified in disharmony
-
As fatigue sets in
My mind is free
But trapped
In a prison
Of liminal living
-
From one bowel movement
To the next
From one guttural
Breath-stealing cough
To the next wheeze
-
Ten seconds out
And then sleep
But just for
An hour
-
Rinse and repeat
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection out now!
Streams and Scratches in My Mind coming soon!
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Comments (13)
Vivid depiction of battling a nasty flu! Hoping to dodge the experience for a long time!
I write some of my best stuff ill. Still sucks though 🤒 Hope you are feeling better!
Wheewww Paul. My whole family and I have the Flu B right now. And this poem is my entire households mantra right now. Get well soon my friend!
Get well to write a poem about flu how do you do it so well.
Wow poetry with a flu-get well soon
Oh no! But at least something good came out of it! I just got rid of my nasty bug. I hope you feel better soon!
Who knew a cough could be so poetic? "Chest and lungs /Unified in disharmony" Paul, you are a master at plumbing the body soul mind connection. And yes, that pun was intentional.
get better soon
I love this. It is exactly what I went through the week before Christmas. Hard to believe someone else could put those horrid experiences that I felt into words and yet, you did it. BRAVO!!
Sheww.. this feels like something written while high on cough medicine! You’re almost out of the woods, buddy
Yowza. Hope you’re on the mend.
I mean, I'm sorry, I am guessing you are feeling shite right now, but this is fantastically evocative. I didnt like it at all!
Nice! Also relatable since I’m in bed with the flu. :)