the kitchen table
was our battleground:
if I could read at 2
then surely
I could create an “S”
at 3, she said
& I
shaped them backwards
or slumped them along lined paper sideways,
like snakes trying wildly
to escape.
I give up,Ā
she said to her mother,
who then told me
a story of a long country road
curving down a hill
in a perfect S
since that story
I have had no trouble with S’s:
see, I wrote 3 of them
& 1 was uppercase
when I signed her
Power of Attorney
that’s why
she wanted me to get it right
all those years ago;
so I could sign my name
next to
where she put an X
on the line
where her name should be
Susan Daniels Poetry 
A very powerful and effective poem.
Thank you Steven. Being able to write about my mother’s illness now, 2 years after the chaos, is a blessing.
Powerful Susan…you are capturing the moments to illustrate all that is of that horrible, horrible illness. Thanks,
Jennifer
Thank you Jennifer–I just wonder how many more I have in me–1 a day for the last 6 days….
just beautiful the way you have captured the frustrations that accompany the beginning of early writing and those difficult to teach letters of alphabet – s, b, d, f….and the writing teacher who imagines that understanding directiionality is the key, whereas there is more to it…and the gentle “eureka” prod of the wise and enlightened who links the new to the familiar and thus opens the gate to creative scribbles and eventually….beautiful poems and songs! great ouptut. sweet. takes me back half a century and more!
Thanks Noel–I remembered this when I was helping my little boy with his S’s, and used the same story my grandma told me š
I really liked all the “Lois” poems, Susan, and can relate to them so well. I think “How to Write an S” is my favorite. There is something unexpected about it in how it connects childhood and parenthood. Well done.
Thank you, Karin. Glad you liked.