Getting It Right

In grammar school I stuttered, felt the hot panic on my face
when my turn to read crept up the row.

Even when I counted the paragraphs
and memorized the passage,
I’d trip on the first or second word,
and then it would be over,
the awful hesitation, the word
clinging to the lining of my throat
rising only too late to avoid
the laughter around me.

I was never the smartest kid in the room, but I had answers I knew were right yet was afraid to say them.

Years later it all came out, flowing sentences I practiced over and over, Shakespeare or Frost, my own tall tales in low-lit barrooms, scribbled in black-bound journals, rehearsing, anticipating my turn, my time, a way of finally getting it right.

Try This

• Write out all that Kevin’s words bring to mind for you.
• Borrow any line, letting the line lead your thinking as you write.

Try This

• Describe the thing that you’ve been trying to “get right” in your life. Describe the frustration and the success you’ve experienced.(It might be accomplishing a particular move in a sport, finally learning how to play a certain song, trying to get along with a parent or sibling, or something personal that you’ve struggled with, such as Kevin’s stutter, anger, or some other emotion.) What have you been trying to “get right”?