What'D I Do Poem by Jack E Miller

What'd I Do?
Editors don't want anything experimental...
What'd I do, comes my mother's voice
What did I do?
Keep it mainstream. Rhyme is OK.
Say it clearly...

Ring. Hello.
Mom is in the hospital. Pneumonia.
The way you handle time is crucial.
Time passes. Mom heals. Then,
Ring. Mom is in the ICU. She fell.
In the hospital?
An attendant dropped her at night.
She has a broken hip.
She was to go home tomorrow. Now they are going to operate.

Drive. Drive. The endless empty road to Savannah.
The way you handle space and spacing... crucial.
The ICU.
'Another day in paradise.'
First words Mom says when they remove the breathing tube.
'What'd I do? '
Each day, every day, the same sentences repeated.
Then, 'Sue the phukkers.'
Avoid obscenity if you want to get published. Good, rich diction.

We returned.
Mom stayed in the hospital a week until they hauled her to a nursing home,
Hip not healed, yelling obscenities, wanting to go home.
Keep it short and sweet.
Ring.
Mom is dead.
What? Dead. Friday. Cardiac
Arrest.