Line Gauthier Poet Ode

Notes About The Poem

<em>I'll always remember my husband's older brother Jim telling me the story of a series of painful medical procedures Dennis had to endure as a kid... and tearing up over it some fifty years later... Dennis was diagnosed with polio when he was a toddler. As he grew, the doctor presented his father with the option of amputating the affected leg or stunting the growth of the good leg. So at age ten Dennis went to the hospital to do the unimaginable to his good leg… It always chokes me up when I think about it. ~</em>

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Why Me

Few witnesses to your young private tears at the age of ten
Why me  Why me
No amount of hugs or consolation could provide a reason or answer

I know if I had been there 
My heart too would have shattered in a million pieces

Your brother never forgot those Why me tears in the night
Going through unthinkable ordeal foreign to any of us
So young  Why me indeed

Years toughened you up till you traded those tears for strength
And people would ask why you were always so lucky
I think it started off with those Why me tears
Then Lady Luck came along to compensate

Thank goodness you were surrounded with love and pampering
You pulled through and knew you could make the most of it
You bit into this crazy world as you would into a juicy red apple

Why me became why not me
And you didn’t let anything stop you
You had a million dreams

You had goals and they were all out there for the taking
And you went for it  You went for it all
And I loved you all the more for it                                



Published in my 24-page photo/poetry book ~WHY ME: Edward Dennis Wicks~ 2023

AP: Honorable Mention 2021, Honorable Mention 2022

PS featured in 2021

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Andrea Dietrich April 11, 2018 at 6:38 PM I don't know if this is based on the life of someone you know or if it's fiction but Wow, it's amazing. I do not see one comment here. That just isn't right. It's very good and sorry if it did not place. I think this is a judge that I never place with. Line Gauthier April 11, 2018 at 8:27 PM This is based on my husband as a youth diagnosed with polio - one leg was affected and his father needed to decide to amputate the affected leg or stunt the growth of the good leg by breaking the bones somehow. Needless to say breaking it hurt. Obviously I never knew him then but his older brother told me with teary eyes over 50 years later. Thank you so much, Andrea, for discovering this well hidden little poem that means obviously a lot to me.