Tremors - Constance Miles

[Larry Robinson]

Tremors

 

Try holding a large ceramic teapot 

brimming with boiled water in one hand.

Then enlist the other to settle the quake.

Try composing an email or a poem on the

keyboard with precision, deleting as many

repetitive letters, tremor induced,

as those which remain. Try speaking clearly,

pronouncing words at a snail’s pace when

your mouth feels like it’s full of marbles or

your jaw is heavy like a sand bag.

Try trimming a jagged fingernail with a

quivering jaw or plucking chin hairs with

trembling tweezers. Try threading a needle,

moistening the tip of thread over and over

until by some happy accident it slips

through the hole. Try cutting kinesiotape

for overstretched ligaments or removing

an alcohol wipe or bandaid from it’s tight

little package. Try snapping a photo, catching

the perfect moment on a phone lacking shutter 

control. Try lifting a ceramic mug to your lips to

sip tea without it clinking against teeth. Or

carrying a full plate at a potluck, approaching

your seat slowly, deliberately willing your hands

to be steady, to not splatter food on the floor. 

Or grasping a soup spoon, bringing it from 

bowl to mouth without spilling.

Stainless straws work wonders.

Such simple things can wrangle patience,

can lasso perseverance and build character,

I like to believe. All doable with resilient

spirit, without watching the clock, with

gentleness for oneself. Like The Little 

Engine That Could, I’m convinced that I can!



	- Constance Miles


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