Poetry of a TBI

    So this afternoon I found the journal I kept the spring semester in 2010 after my brain injury in the summer of 2009. I took two classes a the local community college, and a lot of the times I just wrote in my little journal. I don't let myself write in class anymore, and I kind of think that is why I write less now! I seem to really do it when I should be doing something else, but right now I am all about doing what I am supposed to in college. 

    But please enjoy a few of my brain injured poems/observations! 

Disclaimer: These poems have only been edited for clarity. This is pretty much straight from my (injured) brain

Algebraic Observations 

the truth about math 

math requires confidence 

girls who can do math 

don't swing their hips 

when they walk away.

they already know anyone who wants watch

is already watching 

there is no magic in math 

no fairies hiding between the pages 

it is just plain

pure

evil 

factor 

cross out 

that's how you do it 

/cancel/

there is no end 

so don't bother to begin 

and I thought you were dead 

(must you?) 

the difference of 2 squares 

is 2x + 4 

{I just want to be normal}

forget and be done with this 

hold, change, flip 

THAT DON'T FACTOR

After the Accident 

What I need after the accident:

blood thinner (plavix, 1 aspirin) 

some ditropan and a little Tylenol 

(no more ibuprofen) 

physical, occupational, speech 

(a little recreation)

I need:

socks in my bivalves 

and you to speak a little slower 

some more hair 

(or at least a bobby pin)

I want a nap 

and no more nurses 

watching me pee.

I need:

more breath support 

more of an attention span 

and my feeding tube back in

because it hurts too much out 

I want:

my nails painted 

and you to do it 

because my hands don't do what I say anymore 

maybe not ever 

Nonsense 

fiddle faddle 

flick- 

this can't be 

it. ding dong 

damn, broke 

a nail. a hammer 

a tack, a spot of glue

can't fix this so

please (don't) try.

fling, fly 

flung- 

this is 

it. rolling stops 

keep on going

and rolling on

the river can

be wet. hair 

should be cut.

you (can't) do 

tip, top 

tap-

this is that

not that is this 

mirrors (don't) break 

only reflect 

deflect, duck 

flies north 

(no one flies south) 

If Fish Flew

if fish flew 

light as a feather but stiff as a board 

slippery as serpents but twice as nice 

they glub, glum, glug by 

happy in their own worlds 

content to glide by 

their fins carefully brushing your cheek 

as soft as a kiss, but half as deadly.

if fish flew 

lines would have to be thrown up 

into loose air, catching on branches and planes.

Men would stand with their arms in the air 

waiting on something, anything that is no guarantee 

if fish flew.