Poetry Corner

Oct-14-2019

Employees

Imagine! employee Chelsea O’Day recently wrote a poem about her work, and we thought it was worth sharing on our blog. Thanks, Chelsea!

 

Foothills: A Caregiver's Birthday

by Chelsea O'Day

 

In my body
this year
is fatigue;
heaviness and hibernation
at the brink of summer and
some sorry-i-didn’t-make-its and
a great deal of coffee

 

in my body
this year
is gentleness;
chiefly unapologetic cat naps and
kind thoughts about
pain

 

in my body
this year
is Rage;
for the preacher who said
that you didn’t have Down Syndrome in heaven
as if Down Syndrome was the problem
as if that was some sort of comforting mantra for the mourning
or the “abled”
as if that wasn’t actually about an ignorant society
I want to flip the pew,
still

 

in my body
this year
is responsibility;
to be authentic and human
a kind leader
who feels and marvels at the beauty and wisdom
of others
exactly as they are

 

in my body
this year
is grief;
a big hole in my chest where
his innocent zest for life met
his dying day and through a collapsed lung he said,
“I love you"

 

in my body
this year
is love
and love
and love
and the smell of her hair,
tucked in and holding her
santa claus and stuffed animals
and the hum of the oxygen concentrator mixing with
her giggle

 

in my body
this year
is gratefulness
for partnership and sunshine
cuddles
and the pitter patter
of rain

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