Someone says panic attack, adrenaline spike,
low, calm, and confident,
laying a diagnosis out like a challenge,
while I sit here,
stumped, all root and no branch
to climb up,
to escape by,
not a spike but a stake
pinning me in this place.
Someone says panic attack, adrenaline spike,
low, calm, and confident,
laying a diagnosis out like a challenge,
while I sit here,
stumped, all root and no branch
to climb up,
to escape by,
not a spike but a stake
pinning me in this place.
Carol J Forrester 
This is powerful!
Powerful stuff, indeed, Carol.
I LOVE this:
“stumped, all root and no branch”
I can see it. I can FEEL it. And I have been there.
That sounds like a terrible place to be… the feeling of being staked in a place, to be cornered with nowhere to go..
A disquieting quadrille, Carol, that reminds me of a time I felt that way – you’ve captured it too well in ‘stumped, all root and no branch’ and ‘not a spike but a stake / pinning me in this place’. It gave me goosebumps.
Carol, well written, but it does not sound like a comfortable situation.
I, too, was hooked by /all root, no branches/; reminds me of one of the Western sayings, “all hat”. Last year I dealt with panic attacks and insomnia myself; meds and counseling saved the day for me.
Wow, I love the line “stumped, all root and no branch.” Fantastic use of metaphor and great word-smithing too.
Writer’s block is a dreadful place to be … but very well portrayed in your poem!
Well written quadrille.
Well done, and extra credit for getting “spike” in there more than once!
the empty confinement of a label, aptly described
NiceM. Liked this – “not a spike but a stake pinning me in this place.”
The angst is palpable.
Nice portrayal of a diagnosis as a challenge: “laying a diagnosis out like a challenge” I tend to think of them as challenges.