Friday, June 8, 2012

What's That Called?

Sometimes I feel fragmented
even quite demented
at a loss for…
words
names of things, I call absurd.

Like instead of eye and needle,
I spit the word “eedle.”

My dogs, Snowy and Jake-
I’ll combine and call them “Snake.”

Even my own children
think I’ve gone delir(ious)-en
when I slither through the chicken
looking for some kitchen.

What about ewe? Does this happen, 2?

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspiration: IGWRT- A Lurd with WauwieA Word with Laurie: Dementia

26 comments:

Bubba said...

That happens to me all the time, Laurie. Usually when I reconsider my word choice in mid-thought and end up combining both words - the beginning of my original choice and the end of the latter... I get the strangest looks sometimes. :)

Sreeja said...

surely sometimes ....:-)

Unknown said...

My adult children are very quick to point out that dementia is settling in my pea brain!

Dr. Pearl Ketover Prilik (PKP) said...

Hi Laurie... Oooh adorable.. lovely play on words..
:) ewe!

Hannah said...

It sure does, Laurie!!! Big time and yes, that's the word that I feel when this happens too...demented. Excellent write, Laurie!

Daydreamertoo said...

Sometimes Chloe gets me in such a tizzy my words come out all wrong or, I put two words together going to say both and change my mind. It happens.
Sad subject Laurie.
Somehow you managed to make this humerous though! :)

Sherry Blue Sky said...

It does, far too often to be anything but hilarious....my sister and I both grope for words, have no short term memory - you should hear us recommending movies to each other - someone or other stars, it is about - cant remember - but we know it is GOOD. "Somebody dies!" Hee hee.

Kerry O'Connor said...

This is a humorous look at a malady which strikes all, one way or another.

Maude Lynn said...

All the time!

Helen said...

This is a wonderful poem ... I will never forget the evening my Mother asked ~ 'now what is the name of that disease I have, is it called imagination?' It was and will always be the most precious of my Mother memories.

S.E.Ingraham said...

I'm forever blaming it on age and the fact I've had 'lectricity but in truth, it's terrifying. They say playing games of logic and doing the crossword helps keep you sharp ... I don't know ... good poem.

http://leapinelephants.blogspot.ca/2012/06/over-dinner.html

Susie Clevenger said...

Oh it happens to me...I try not to think what my future might hold...for now I am writing as fast as I can.

Mary said...

Enjoyed this, Laurie. I hate it if I cannot remember something. (Movie title, etc.) There is always the fear...... And I keep calling Basil "she" when Basil is a "he" and I am so embarrassed when Mya corrects me!!

Susan said...

I laughed out loud at your poem: recognition of the moments, delight at how neatly you demonstrated them. But I sober at the fear some of the commenters express. I remember my first reaction at the ending of "Flowers for Algernon," and burst into tears a little. Should I live faster? Should I be more scared? I don't know, I don't know. I will do the best I can as ever.

Ella said...

Wow Laurie, I do this a lot...I blame my thyroid. My kids think have adopted some of my wacko words....
I blamed my thyroid because when it is fast, I don't connect the tongue with brain...but now I wonder??!

Great prompt...I need to work some more on mine~
Your poem was eye opening~

Isadora Gruye said...

this was a light hearted romp through a serious topic....and don't we all have these blunders from time to time. Since I went through chemo ten years ago, some days are worse than others.

As a manager in home mortgage, I deal with many escalated customers. I usually have to use my "sensuous mortgage girl voice" to de escalate really upset male homeowners. When ending a long call with a gentleman from north carolina instead of asking if there was anything else I could help him with, I accidentally said, "Was there anything else I can do to you today?"

I could literally here him scratch his head before he said in his appalachian twang, "Can you what Ma'am?" Since I had his attention, I decided to get him to sign up for automatic payment withdrawls.

great post, Laurie!!!

Dave King said...

Increasingly it happens. Like the clever ending. Great fun. (Another trick I am perfecting is to omit the final letter of a word.)

Brian Miller said...

for a hard topic you had a bit of fun with it, well kinda, not really...seriously this scares me more than anything...have seen it play out and its no fun at all..but nice take laurie...

Becky Sain said...

Absolutely.
I call out all of my kids names until I get to the one I need.
I think we all go through that time when we forget simple words, like how to spell how.

Other Mary said...

I don't mean to scare you, but in retrospect the first sign of dementia in my mom was her struggling to find words.

Scarlet said...

I think this happens to me when I am in the midst of trying to remember and micro manage a lot of things ~

Great write Laurie ~ I wrote about this challenge but in a different way as I have no personal experiences of dementia ~

Kay L. Davies said...

Happens to me every day, Laurie. One of the things remaining to be done in our kitchen reno is spray-painting the baseboards and replacing them. I remind my husband of this when I can remember the word "baseboard"!
Good write, made me laugh.
K

Myrna R. said...

I smiled as I read this, though perhaps I should have cried. I relate to it too much.

A really nice write Laurie.
Thanks for the tip about Imaginary Gardens.

De Jackson (WhimsyGizmo) said...

Oh, man. This is all too familiar for me. For some reason, the phrases "glove box" and "medicine cabinet" have gotten juxtaposed in my brain for the last several years. And the liquid stuff that goes in the washing machine to soften the clothes is "conditioner." Ahhh, the Word Salad. Goodness. Excellent piece.

Margaret said...

Loved this and the comments. Sometimes it pays to be last! Helen's touching comment, Isadoras was great, and the comment "should I live faster?" made me really pause and think.

Often I think I forget words because I need to s-l-o-w down and not juggle so much at one time. At least that is what I tell myself .

Anonymous said...

been there -glad to know i'm not the only one - charmingly written.