April is National Poetry Month. I’m going to attempt to write one poem every day this month. Today’s poem: #8 for April 8th.
Vibing With My Thoughts
Gather my thoughts you say?
Scores of racing thoughts
Each vying for attention
Each waving a red flag of urgency
Let’s take a tour
Camilla’s brain tour
ADHD is wild
A persistent flow of thoughts,
Difficult to focus on any one thought
ADHD for damn sure puts the spice in neurospicy
There’s the check with the pharmacy thought
The return the dermatologist call thought
The send those emails and texts thoughts
The did I respond to them? thoughts
The oh, keep stepping outside to view the eclipse thought
I want to write today’s poem
Yes, yes, after I eat
Oh, let me take this call from my co-worker
The distracting thought of pain from
From
From
Who knows what
Oh shit, I’ve got to help Thomas with
Their college to do list
What is that person doing outside?
Why are they doing that?
What the hell is that noise?
Takes 15 minutes investigating the noise
This brain cannot deal with random noises
Thoughts are completely derailed
Right, I’m ready to think about publishing that next book
Oh, there are Family Navigation clients
that need my attention
Wow! That’s an amazing cloud
Steps outside to take 10 photos
Of the clouds
Glancing at the plants,
Damn, the plants need water
And what is all over the floor?
I really need to vacuum.
Glances at boxes ready for items
To be returned
Shit. I need to print return labels
Sees a phrase that catches my attention
That would make a great poem
Opens notes to make a reminder of it
Sees another reminder
With unfinished thoughts
Gets distracted for 20 minutes
The bladder adds to the thoughts
It will be ignored no longer
Restroom break
Gets in the bathroom
Remberers for the hundredth time
The sink and counter need cleaned
Hey now, I know this sounds wild
To be sure, it is
I thrive with my hyper active brain
It’s good vibrations
Now imagine three of us in the
Household with the same thing
Makes for some lively conversations
Lively disagreements
I mean, lively conversations
Then there’s the thoughts
That get lost in a hidden fold of the brain
Designated as “The Corner of Lost Thoughts”
I imagine a tiny sign
With the words “enter here”
It’s divided into three sections
One section for thoughts
That will soon be remembered and recovered
Another section for thoughts
That will be remembered months later
This section is more comfortable,
With lots of food and drink
As they’ll be there for a while
The last section is a graveyard
With tiny tombstones engraved with things like,
“Here Lies Thought #222
It was important for 67 seconds
It had a lively life
Trying to get to the front of the thoughts line”
As you might have guessed
This is where thoughts go to die
On the flip side
When I’m working on something
I’m interested in
Something that lights my fire
Excites the hell out of me
I hyper focus
Deep Diving
Wrangling all other thoughts
Moving them into a holding pen
To wait their turn
While I enjoy the dopamine hits
Of working on a thought
Taking it from it’s birth to it’s ending
Giving it wings,
infusing it with knowledge
Releasing it to work its magic
Writing this poem
Any poem
Any writing
Researching something of interest
Taking actions that will
Light a fire under people’s ass
to do their damn jobs
Theses things light me on fire
Beginning with the initial sparks
The fire grows, consuming my attention
Holding my attention
With a tenacity backed and rooted
By the Gods of Tenacity themselves
Gather my thoughts, you say
I adore the way my brain works
And truly love this about myself
It’s a wild, magical ride
Camilla Downs 2024
**Prompt: from Monday Night Poetry host 2Schae: “Let me gather my thoughts”