Rainy days make me feel old because I let them shift my focus from what I can do to what I can’t do. My joints throb; my muscles ache – the rain just announcing its arrival. My knees sing “click, crackle, crunch.” A finger bends and has trouble bending back – it gently cries, “Oil can.” Walking around is made more difficult by this weather event causing me to be even more reliant on my “gait aid device” aka cane. I can let water flow from my eyes in despair, or I can look forward to the rainbow.
Today’s poem is a 4×4 Poem inspired by Denise Krebs and the directions and format can be found at ethicalela.com #verselove
It Won’t Get Me!
Arthritis stinks
Predicts the rain
It slows me down
But I don’t stop
Rest when needed
Arthritis stinks
Medicine helps
Exercise too
Can sit all day
Or push myself
Arthritis stinks
Get up and walk
Aging is hard
But life is good
Movement is sweet
Arthritis stinks.
I’ll do my best to keep looking for the rainbows, but there are two more days of rain trying to shake my resolve. Break out the relaxing teabags!
Rita DiCarne 
I like the 4×4 form. And the content is helpful for me, too. with retirement coming up at the end of May- I have already been thinking of the emotional impact, especially since these years of teaching through the pandemic have been so draining I sometimes can only think I can’t wait. I don’t want to forget how much I have loved being a teacher. The weather recently sure has stirred up the arthritis more than usual! I, too, have been singing “Rain, rain, go away!”
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Arthritis sure does sound like it stinks. Rest when you need it
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I loved the way you put your poem together with the repeating line popping up in different places. It felt like the it matched the topic so well.
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Who needs a weatherman when you have Arthur to predict. With your positive attitude you will find the rainbows.
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I’ve been thinking about the 4 X 4 all day today and reaching for a topic. I really like yours! You did a great job with the format and your lines flow nicely. I hope the rain ends soon!
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Thank you for introducing me to this poetry format – I really like the four-by-four! Sorry to hear the weather has been dictating your progress. Here’s to more relaxing tea!!
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This is the second four-by-four I’ve read today, and I love them both. Like another of your readers, I enjoy the effect of the change of line position. Your poem’s form and concept serve to diminish the importance of arthritis. I hope the pain is minimized as well.
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Ouch! I am sorry for the pain and problems of your arthritis. But what a great poem – love the format!
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My arthritis isn’t so bad, but I know exactly this feeling you describe – how rainy weather makes it all too clear that you are aching – “the rain just announcing its arrival.”
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Interesting how changing the “Arthritis stinks” line position plays in the poem. Arthritis stinks, yet you don’t sit wailing, you keep moving. Hold on. The sun will return.
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Hi, Rita. You’re post seems to echo some of the feelings I’ve written about today. That sense of “being old”, the frustration of lack of energy or pain when you move, the inability to move through a to-do list can all trip us up. I love your poem and I love the positive ending. We need sunshine!!
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