Today’s Quadrille prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is hum. The dVerse Quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words. After my surgery in March, I lost my voice. When it didn’t get better, we worried that there was damage from intubation, but the little camera up my nose and down my throat didn’t see damage to my vocal chords. The culprit appears to be rapid weight loss changing the support around my larynx, and removal of many of the organs that would have supported my diaphragm and breath control (most of my intestines). As a singer, this has been very traumatic. But, with vocal therapy, my speaking voice is getting better. Sometimes I even sound like myself for a moment. Hum has a very different meaning for me now.
Daily Hum
in a sitz bath
epsom salts
curtain closed
Not an earwormed melody
Even a hum
is no longer a hum
but work, exercise
resistance training
Hum sounds
to mean words
in conversation
when you can,
she said.
I want my voice back!
resonates raspily