Attention Deficit by Katy Lederer

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 3, 2014   Attention Deficit   Katy Lederer

Focus for us was a thing hard to come by. We would have to make due with whatever   we had: these were pills and a pencil, blue earplugs to block out the voices inside of   our heads, which would tell us time passed and these thoughts that would shine like soft lights on our brains would   one day fade into invisible relief. We would write in our binders, pass classes,   allow for a moment of grief. We were deeply aware we would have to make up for   lost time, but when we took our pills, the world would seem fine, seem as if it had always been   fine. Once we had adequate supplies we’d sell, but until then we decid- ed to re-   fill. We had determined that we would not brood. Instead we charted out our moods and light-   ened up our loads. Before the rest of time unfolds, we would like to hold on- to this life,   feel like it’s beating, there, deep inside of our chests, not out of fear. We are just children.            Copyright © 2014 by Katy Lederer. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “This poem is ‘about’ (as in, existing in a kind of intellectual and emotional proximity to) what its title suggests: ADHD. While working on my current, third collection, The Engineers, I was interested in using form mimetically. Here, I use syllabics and a resultant, automated enjambment to create various attention effects.” —Katy Lederer   Katy Lederer is the author of The Heaven-Sent Leaf (BOA Editions, 2008). She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most Recent Book by Lederer   The Heaven-Sent Leaf (BOA Editions, 2008) "Your Brain Is Yours" by Natalie Lyalin "What is the Grass?" by Lee Ann Brown "Untitled [The child thought it strange]" by Richard Meier Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038