“Your daughter has ADD”
Played over the snickers of a pen
painting new plans for my family onto a prescription pad.
It’s just that… he assumed I knew what ADD meant.
(I do, but it’s that he assumed I assumed the diagnosis)
So I stand there, behind a one-way window that’s thick enough.
I immediately identify the culprits:
anything donning more than one color,
any reflective surface, anything not me,
surrounding my little artist.
She draws enthused and bright.
I know it is the “right” thing to do
but still I question the quotation marks,
trailing my thoughts to some white-picket daughter
that I used to call Lily, my favorite flower.
She’d clean her room
like she was told.
She’d eat her greens
like she was told.
and she’d never drive five miles over
like she was.
She draws enthused and bright.
No boundaries, innocent to rules,
she resists the paper’s attempt
to make her bunny rabbit two-dimensional.
I can’t help but notice the delicate grip to the pencil,
how curious and easy she drew the tail…
“Daddy, I drew a house! What do you think?”
I thumbed a crumpled prescription slip in my pocket,
“I think it could use some ears.”
Author notes
This is for option 3. Thank you for the wonderful pic prompt and for letting me enter. Good luck to everyone.
A contest entry
- The Prompt Coffee House: Prompt Challenge Round 1: Picture Prompts by Ceridwens Soul.
1050 points, ended August 4, 2008, 22 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
-
This is excellent. I love it. The conversational tone. I teach students with learning disabilities, so I have worked with many such students. Congrats on the well deserved Gold trophy.
-
I've only known and worked with people that have ADD. I wish I was lucky enough to have a daughter like this, but I suppose it isn't my time yet. I'm an avid believer in the power of a child's imagination and I've seen some stiffled by the concept of "normal" behavior.
Thank you everyone for the comments and for letting me enter this contest. -
Such emotion so beautifully expressed. Congratulations on the well-deserved gold!
-
This is great Blazor. I love to read emotion in the form of words and this is it. My brother grew up with ADD and he had a lot of trouble. I hope the same is not true for your daughter. It's obvoious you love her very much to help her grow up the way she should. Great write
-
My son suffers from ADHD so this piece struck a real chord with me. I have felt every single word of this poem.
'painting new plans for my family onto a prescription pad.'
oh the emotions this line triggers are so real.
Thank you for sharing with us
Jem and Ju
-
ThankYou for your entry and good luck!
Adding your comment:
1 - 6 of 6
