The Will To Write: Regardless Of All Straps Encountered Poem by Terence George Craddock

when I was young
very young about eleven
I wrote a short story

which in my mind
was just a few words
a string of words

that slowly
kept trickle
coming

flowing
a short story
then one day

to be a poem
at this time
I could not spell

a few words
I needed to write
this piece of creativity

forming into existence
within my mind;
I could not spell

I was also dyslexic
but this teacher never
worked this obstacle

to learning spelling out;

I asked a friend sitting
in the same small group
of four desks the spelling

of a word I needed
I spoke a request;
when rules were silent

writing no conversation
or speaking tolerated;
the teacher called me

by name to come
to the front of the class;
and promptly strapped

my right hand
with a strap;
I returned to my desk

still needing the correct
spelling of a word;
I waited a short while

and then asked
the same friend again;
the teacher now

angrier called me
by name again;
always the surname

to come to the front
of the class and then
promptly strapped

my right hand
with a strap harder
than before;

I returned to my desk
still needing the correct
spelling of a word;

I waited a few minutes
and asked the same friend again;
the teacher now extremely

angry with this
continued defiance
of his discipline

angrily shouted
my name again
to come to the front

of the class
and promptly strapped
my right hand as hard

as he could;
well by now
several girls

in the class were crying;
I was not really impressed
my father was stronger

and hit much harder;
and I still needed
the spelling

of the required
word art will
not be denied;

I returned
to my desk
sat a moment

or two then
looked at my friend
who seemed

scared terrified
that he might
be called up

and strapped too
but the friend
had a solution;

he quietly
pushed a small
scrap of paper

tightly folded
across the desk
a little towards me;

what was this scrap
soon to be unfolded
ah the word needed;

I waited a little
then copied the word
needed then continued

my short story
I called titled The Beach
finally finished it


Terence George Craddock (Afterglows Echoes Of Starlight)
Copyright © Terence George Craddock