Like an alligator struggling at a river’s wildest confluence
Like a translator working at an international conference
Outrageously this train has left without its guard
Subconsciously my brain is working extra hard
Sometimes it leaves me so verminous that I cannot copulate
Sometimes it makes me so nervous that I cannot concentrate
In nursery rhymes I’m late for school or lie on my back for fifty pence
At other times I play the fool to hide my lack of confidence
I might dress up in vegetables or address a meeting of floppy tits
I might mix up my syllables or reverse the meaning of opposites
Sometimes I am totally absurd or talk a load of bees wax
Sometimes I completely miss a word or use inappropriate syntax
I’ve committed appalling acts: blowing-up ships and dismembering plumbers in my shed
I have trouble recalling facts, copying lists and keeping numbers in my head
People think that I glow and stick but it’s simply that I’m elastic
People think that I am slow or thick but it’s simply that I’m dyslexic
But please don’t leave for Paris or miss your favourite symphony
But please don’t be embarrassed. I do not need your sympathy
I can sleep all day in garbage or live breezily in a tree
I can turn it to my advantage as, clearly, you can see.
M R McBride
Autumn 2019
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