Monday, February 1, 2010

Yeah, I Blew the Curve

But since we are reminiscing
And talking about blowing the curve
I can well remember the day I did
And the crash, the smash, the shattered glass
The unconsciousness of it all
The struggle to release myself
The struggle to be free
Before the car blew up
For that’s all I knew from the movies.

I was only just learning to drive
Had my learner’s permit
And the experienced driver sat near the door
And the other young man sat in-between
And fiddled with the radio and fought with me as I
turned the knobs, as I
turned the corner
as the licensed driver
reached across us both
and grabbed the wheel and
turned it!
Turned into a rock wall
That didn’t give an inch
And the other driver of the other car
A 70 year old man
Smashed!
 Into us
Smashed!
 into his windshield
Smashed!
His face.
We all stumbled out
Into silence. 

Dazed silence.

And then, sirens!
Wailing, screaming, and rushing in!
How I clung to the ambulance workers,
How I clung on for dear life!
The ambulance came and whisked me away
To intensive care
With my liver ruptured and bleeding. 
Yeah, I blew the curve,
but not without help
 and not without consequences
That linger.

~Kathie Adams Brown (2-1-10)

15 comments:

  1. Powerful. Quite a shocking experience - and aftermath.

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  2. Well, I don't think about it often anymore but the prompt sent my mind reeling backwards to this event and the words just came.

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  3. Oh man... that's not exactly what I had in mind, but it's an interesting spin on the prompt.

    I can only take partial credit for the prompt really. I honestly didn't "submit" it or even "suggest" it. It was something I said to Sandy and she thought "That'd make a great OSI. Which meant that I was staring at "my" theme with no idea what to write for it.

    It was a little unnerving.

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  4. What a terrible and life-changing experience. So sorry you had to go through that, but so glad you survived to share your tale. I hope this will alert young drivers and their parents and friends and others!

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  5. Wow, Kathie! And you are still living with some of the ramifications! Wow!
    And Mojo fessed up. I though it sounded like a teacher came up with this one.
    ..
    I like your poem. I am thinking you are telling on yourself and it is all or mostly all true.
    It reminds me of the (one of them) accident I had when I was 14. A drunk ran into us on the way home from school and there was no place on the right for me to go. I suffer no remaining consequences.
    ..

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  6. That is blowing the curve, to be sure. Wow Visceral, gripping, real. An incredible poem.

    Here I learn I took Mojo by surprise.

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  7. By God! What a gripping narration. Must have been a nerve wrecking experience!

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  8. Oh, no. What a terrible experience. Glad you came out of it okay.

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  9. Amazing drama of extreme crisis of circumstance!

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  10. Well, mojo, it all worked out didn't it. When I first started participating in OSI I kind of resisted the prompt, wanting to come up with "my own stuff" and trying to make things I had written fit the prompt. I can still be that way, but have come to realize that the prompt is just that, a prompt and the stuff is still my own. I have been surprised more than once by reading the prompt and disocovering what came out of me. This was one of those times and yes, this incident is true but it happened over 35 years ago. I did eventually get my license.

    Linda, I think because of incidents like this many states have enacted rules that prohibit new drivers from having any passengers in the car for the 1st 6 months. A good practice I think.

    Jim, yes, it is all true though it was many years ago. I am fine now but always careful of my liver. Hence, I rarely drink alchohol. (and beleive it or not, there is even more to this story.)

    Sandy, thank you. This is what is so much fun about comments. I like it when a conversation is started.

    Jeeves, yes it was, both in reality and in memory.

    Thanks Tumblewords.

    Greyscale Territory, yes it was.

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  11. Difficult to believe this happened 35 years ago. The telling is so urgently paced. So glad to hear that you are ok.

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  12. Yikes!!! Your interpretation was the first one I thought of when I saw the prompt. I can only imagine what an impression that made and such a lasting experience/memory. My daughter is in driver's ed at the moment and I am hoping that no curves will be blown.

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  13. .. the feel of real life is so evident in ur posts ..

    thank u for writing this ..

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  14. Wow! You are so gifted. Thought you might like to visit this blog - a young friend of mine, and a novel idea - http://postcardpoem.blogspot.com
    Have a wonderful weekend and a memorable Valentine's Day!! ~karen

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  15. Gabrielle, It amazes even me how I can so easily go back to that day and time and feel it all again!

    Pattie, I hope the same thing for both of you! There is even more to this story and perhaps someday I will tell it.

    zoya gautam, thank you for that nice comment!

    KaHolly, sorry I am so long in getting back to you! I was out counting birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count! Thanks for the info and your kind comment. I will check out that link!

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