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Thoughts From Beyond

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Polio Epidemics

Thoughts from Beyond It puffs and it phews all night and day. You must lie still. No getting out to play. Flesh, steel and motor, three combined. Does a young child think? “An iron lung that’s all mine!” Know this machine spoke of here? Its shadow is my greatest fear. Trapped inside you cannot breathe, without its push to intercede. An iron lung they call this thing. In my past life, we met in Spring. One warm May with moon aglow, I ended up with polio. Inside I lay for 13 days, learning to breath by other ways. And then I slipped, “across the bar,'' to varied plains or nearby star. So now when I see this today, a distant memory does give way, the fearful overtaking power of former lifetime’s painful hours. 9/27/16 Deep and Dark II Sponsored by Laura Loo

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Mahtab Bangalee

Date: 8/4/2020 3:06:00 AM

great; it's great poetic writings; superb; I enjoyed truly

Gregory Richard Barden

Date: 11/6/2017 12:39:00 AM

Congratulations on your wonderfully dark win, Janis - blessings, and keep up the great work! :-)

Eve Roper

Date: 10/28/2017 10:33:00 PM

Amazing, Janis, congratulation on your win Hugs Eve ~`*

Afzal Nusker

Date: 10/27/2017 10:56:00 PM

Congratulations on your win with this awesome poem, Janis.

Kim Rodrigues

Date: 10/27/2017 5:56:00 PM

Invokes a vivid image! Congrats Janis!

Brian Davey

Date: 10/27/2017 1:10:00 PM

I couldn't imagine having to deal with something like that as a child, scary stuff. Congrats on your win

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 7/29/2016 9:14:00 PM

It's good they at least had those iron lungs. Wow, how far our medical science has come!!

Janis Thompson
Date: 8/7/2016 6:06:00 PM

Yes. do you remember?

Probir Gupta

Date: 7/27/2016 5:45:00 AM

Very touching ... Very real ...

Janis Thompson
Date: 7/27/2016 1:33:00 PM

Thanks. I'm sure there's no contest for this one....

Daniel Turner

Date: 7/26/2016 3:15:00 PM

Not to be morbid but yes. I think rather than die they would be happy to have an iron lung all their own. As a matter of fact, there are still people using them today. Although modern technology has replaced most of them and polio vaccines but there are still conditions today that require iron lungs. Very sad subject!

Janis Thompson
Date: 7/27/2016 1:31:00 PM

I understand. I was a child in the 50's and we were often traumatized into taking those shots by being shown images of children in them. This kept me awake in sweats at night and I often lay in my own bed, literally suffocating with the thought of being in one. It has taken me a long time to be even able to handle the subject or look at a picture. This poem is great progress. Past life maybe? What I'm saying is that a child usually wants things like a room or a toy all to themselves. Who would want this? By any means. Thanks for your honest comments. I know that there are still people in them. That makes me very