In Extremity

They say you should post a blog entry every week. This week I'm in North Carolina playing grandma to my two grandsons while my daughter and her husband are in London. Not a week for much introspection and writing! So here's a poem I wrote last week after a difficult morning with my dentist. She's a great dentist. It was my endurance that was lacking. 

In Extremity 

Today in the dentist’s office

I was placed in an awkward painful position

right beside a special x-ray machine.

I was told that I musn’t move at all.

After several minutes, I began

to give out, to feel rather desperate.

I didn’t want to botch the process

so I called out in my mind for help.

Immediately I felt a huge

white polar bear pressing up

to my side. Comforting, steadying.

I thought: A polar bear???

But it was like a godsend,

just what I needed to survive.

And later in the dentist’s chair

trying to get through the root canal process

the bear stayed with me,

steadfast, solid, giving me company

in my extremity. I was so grateful

my eyes pricked with tears.

NF 1/23/23