Stroke

For Bobby

Stroke

The word sounds gentle

Soothing, inconsequential

Stroke

The word seems trifling

Harmless, fleeting

Stroke

The word evokes love

Tactility, touch

Stroke

The word is wrong

This is not gentle

Stroke

My speech pattern decimated

Stroke

My body aflame

Stroke

My skin a prison

Stroke

Ice shards in my brain

Stroke

Plain words escape me

Stroke

I can’t raise my arms

Stroke

I drool when I’m speaking

Stroke

Can’t wipe my own arse

Stroke

Dignity a stranger

Stroke

I fear every sound

Stroke

Reliant on others

Stroke

Meals mushed and ground

Stroke

Spoken to like toddler

Stroke

Treated with disdain

Stroke

My body betrayed me

Stroke

But I still have my brain

Stroke

In my mind I’m screaming

Stroke

Hear me, say my name

Stroke

I am still a whole person

Stroke

In here still the same

Stroke

Life not for living

Stroke

Pills by my side

Stroke

I can’t even lift them

Stroke

End this, my life.

2 July 2012