The James Hearst Digital Archive

Home » Poetry » Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy

Text of Poem

Each morning the wild, random
conduct of muscles tests his strategy,
almost ambushes the effort to
pull on a sock. But he struggles
and tames them to permit his
journey from bathroom to breakfast.
But he must plan campaigns his
partners never know. He could
hoist a white flag and surrender
to an institution far from the office
where he devises wills, conveyances,
contracts for his clients. Other men
shoulder who knows what burdens of
anxiety, worry, despair that curl
the edges of the spirit, but not
this daily rebellion of nerves, this
denial of the flesh to come to order.

First Line
Each morning the wild, random
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1980
Original Citation
The Windless Orchard 36 (Spring-Summer 1980) 35.
Complete Poems
400
Word Count
103
Poetic Form
open
Themes