How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…
“Bite Size Memoir” is an invitation by Lisa Reiter for anyone to spend 5 minutes here or there (perhaps with a gorgeous little notebook), recording some snippets about their life. Each week, she provides a prompt for inspiration, so you don’t have to think where to begin. The challenge here is to keep it short with either 150 words of prose or poetry, OR 10 x “I remember ..” statements.
Here’s my contribution to this week’s challenge.
Childhood Illness
My childhood illnesses were not serious, and they were mainly related to winter. I was a stoic and recurrent sufferer of colds, flues, tonsillitis, and chilblains, which were not severe, but they were very unpleasant!
I’ve decided to use the ten-sentence format, this time. I’ve stretched my imagination and linguistic skills (!?) to come up with this almost nonsensical, and slightly silly acrostic poem:
Winter Ills
Woolen gloves tied to my coat sleeves with rubber bands,
Itchy swollen fingers trying to play the piano with two hands.
Never-ending runny noses in class,
Thermometers ancient, mercury, and glass.
Ear aches galore in spite of beanie hats,
Running out of hankies and sniffing like bobcats.
Inventing fake tummy aches to stay home from school,
Lowering voices, mother’s migraine rules.
Lozengers for sore throats and pains,
Sneezing and coughing through the night, once again…
If you’d like to take part in Lisa Reiter’s Bite-Size Memoir, have a look here
If you’d like to see other posts on this subject, have a look here
Rereading Jane Eyre 
Ta Da ! 🏆 “Get You” as Peter Kay would say! Fantastic! This is the first ever poetic entry to Bite Size Memoir and following the rules of 150 words you could even add more if you want to.
Thank you too for displaying the little logo I came up with on your blog. I was really touched when I spied that! Lisa xx
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Thanks! I spotted the logo and snatched it! Very nice!
It’s not really very ‘poetic’, just a fun thing I came up with! Glad you liked it!
Thanks too for organising. It’s fun taking part!
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Very neat. You’re setting a new standard
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Thanks! It’s only because all of you inspire me!
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Wonderful, clever and bite-sized. But how sad to have all these ills! I only had one big one – polio. I would trade…
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Oh gosh Noelle, that is a biggy. Not many people are aware now just how bad it could be. If you feel like sharing more we’d love to hear from you.
http://sharingthestoryblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/bite-size-memoir-no-7-childhood-illness/
Lisa x
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I’m sorry this post is perhaps ‘too lighthearted’, I’m aware that illness is not a laughing matter, especially for a child…
My favourite uncle had polio in the 1940s. He used to tell me about the many operations, and his time in hospital as a child. It must have been hard, but it made him into a special person, both understanding with others and strong-willed in his own life. I always admired him.
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Earaches – I;d forgotten about those! And an ear full of yukky yellow medication. Ugh!
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Oh yes – I’d forgotten about that cold yellow stuff my Mum used to pour in my ear!
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Fun poem. Like Noelle though I really didn’t get any of that kind of stuff and luckily didn’t contract polio either. I would have loved to have lots of colds and sore throats just to get the butter menthols but it wasn’t to be.
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I wonder why it is that some of us are prone to colds and flu etc. (I still get then regularly 😦 ) and others never seem to catch them!
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My theory is that if you allow yourself to be cold your immune system is kickstarted and you won’t get sick. I rarely sit in a heated room. Mind you it doesn’t get that cold here but even when we lived in cooler climes I would eat breakfast outside in 8 degrees. Or it could just be my genes… 🙂
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Interesting. You could have a point. I can’t stand the cold, so I try never to be cold. Perhaps my immune system needs some cold!
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You can try it but don’t blame me if you get pneumonia. You’re probably safer eating some wakame seaweed. 🙂
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Wakame seaweed? Never heard of it. I will have to investigate…
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It is the wonder weed. I just put it in soup.
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I’ll look for it in my part of the planet!
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🙂
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