MISHAPS AT NIGHT

MISHAPS AT NIGHT.


Perhaps the worst mishaps are said
to happen when you go to bed.
You might feel safe when tucked up tight
right in the middle of the night.


But even if you’re in a coma
that won’t stop an active stoma.
For if you have an ostomy
it has its own autonomy.


There’s no way you can keep it still
it does just what it thinks it will.
It can erupt at any time
spewing out it’s grime and slime.


It is a must to wear a bag
that you can trust to catch this slag.
But sometimes this is not enough
to hold the volume of this stuff.


The best bags swell but what is worst
is mess and smell from bags that burst.
They blow much like old hand grenades
and throw faeces into cascades.


The bits of shit fly anywhere
here and there and everywhere.
And all that’s left for you to do
is be bereft at all that poo.


Then after the disaster’s done
and --it has plastered everyone.
You start the mammoth job to clean
everything that can be seen.


Then at some ungodly hour
when you get into the shower
of course, you’ve lost a good night’s sleep
because your stoma would not keep.


What might have been a bright new morn
can leave you peeved that you were born.


B. Withers 2013

Bill, as usual... so very true. It happens to all of us at some time or another. I love (rhythms). I told you a while ago you were a very good writer... and it shows... love it, Bill.
Angelicamarie

Hello Angelicamarie.
Thank you so much for your kind comments and I'm pleased you enjoyed this rhyming verse. It's been some time since the mishaps at night prompted me to put pen to paper but it's sometimes good to be reminded that things were not always as good as they seem to be at the moment.
Best wishes
Bill

Hey Angelica, I found it!
Bill, you're brilliant. In a way I thought I was reading something like "The night before Christmas". Then, abruptly, I realized I might've lost my mind. Coal in one's stocking is one thing but a crap bag explosion, wow! Thanks for the rhyme but I need to forget the "rerhymeder".
Respectfully,
Mike

Hello Mike. Thanks for the comment. It's great to have feedback on these rhymes especially when they indicate that people have enjoyed them. I've got a few more left from the books I wrote early on in the stoma experience but I'll not post them until other blogs have put some distance and time between my own verses. I've always believed that rhyming verses should not be read in quick succession as one might read the chapters of a book. They seem to be best appreciated as one-offs, such as we might come across in monthly or even weekly magazines, then we have a chance to forget the one we read last and concentrate on the one in front of us.
Best wishes
Bill

Airport Security Tips Living with an Ostomy with April | Hollister

As I said, you're a good writer. Can't wait to read the ones you haven't...
written!!!! Angel

I thoroughly enjoyed this poem! Thank you!

Hey Bill, my latest reply is somewhere in cyberspace and I don't remember what I wrote. It was in reference to your suggestions about time and space between rhyming verses. I recognize that phenomenon in music and, sometimes, I wonder if that might not pertain to some facets of life. Relationships come to mind.
Thanks, again.
Mike

Hello Angelicamarie.
Thank you for your complementary comment, although I feel some of my verses are better than others, this is in the nature of the exercise and hopefully it helps to improve as we go along.
Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression about the verses 'in waiting'. They have been written and published but I have not yet posted them on this site. However, I am experimenting with a different type of rhyming verse, which I will share just as soon as I have finished posting the verses from the books.
Best wishes
Bill

Hello thisgirlyisbusyliving.(what a lovely title)
I'm glad you enjoyed the verse and thank you for your feedback. Perhaps this is an appropriate opportunity to tell you that I really like reading your posts to other people as well.
Best wishes
Bill

Hello Mike.
I can certainly follow your reasoning about the concept of allowing time and space to enter between other activities such as music and relationships. Perhaps that's where the saying 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' originates. Humour is another dimension where this concept seems pertinent. I recall(a long time ago) one of my tutors at college asking me if I was aware that I was funny and my reply was "not often". The fact of the matter is, that the titbits of humour were interspersed with periods of deep seriousness so it was as much to do with the contrast between the two that highlighted the humorous elements.
On the same theme, I have considered that my preferred style of writing eight verses per poem is also a bit of OTT. So I'm experimenting at present with what I have called 'di-line verse'(two liners) to try to capture concepts in a more pithy way. I have already published six short booklets on different subjects: poor-parking, bullying, forms, pollution, anti-social behaviour and driving and I'm currently working on the subject of stomas. An example would be in reference to the 'mishaps at night' verses, the di-line rhyme came out as 'A STOMA CAN GIVE YOU A FRIGHT - ERUPTING IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT'. or 'STOMA, STOMA, BRIGHT AND RED - JUST WAITING FOR YOUR LOAD TO SHED'. I've done about ten of these two-liners so far, but at present I'm in the throws of a novel, so I try not to get too distracted by other things whilst there is a major project still underway. As soon as I've got a reasonable collection of di-liners, I will begin to share them on here. Until then, the longer verses will have to suffice.
Best wishes
Bill

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Bill. I enjoy your writing. I enjoy your thinking whether it be in rhyme or simple verse.
Respectfully,
Mike

Hi Bill, I just had this happen to me the other night for the first time. I loved your poem. It made me feel less confused and alone.
Pray for peace, Hana

Hello Hanaleah.
Thanks for sharing your experience and I'm really pleased you liked the poem
Best wishes
Bill

We have all been there at one time or another. If we can just get to the point of accepting it and going forward with a grin, we'll be OK. Because, of course, shit happens!

Hello Newbie Dana.
Thanks for posting. You are absolutely right and if sometimes we can go forward with a grin together, then we can support each other in ways that are not possible when we are travelling alone.
Best wishes
Bill

I really like your poem and it is very apt and describes how most of us have felt at one point or another as I imagine most of us have woken up during the night to find our stoma bags have erupted. I hope that for most of us it's not too much of a daily occurrence as there is nothing worse than being sleep deprived.

Hello Jellybean82.
Thank you for replying to this blog and sharing that you liked the verse and that you empathise with what it is trying to express. As you say, most of us have experienced this phenomenon, which prompted the rhyme.
Fortunately, those days are now long behind me as I irrigate and have very little output at night and nothing during the day. However, that does not stop me feeling for those who still suffer in this way.
Best wishes
Bill

I'm glad I came upon this today, had one of those experiences last week. Just helps me remember I'm not the only one mopping and doing laundry at 4:30 in the morning!

Hello Sasquatch.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It is only by communicating with each other about these things that we can all feel that we are not alone. I try to think about it as an experience that I will eventually look back on and smile about as problems like this can be character building. It makes me ponder upon what sort of character is built on sh-t?
Best wishes
Bill