Tag: adhd

Patricia Ljutic

A flywheel 
launched from a brain
that cannot remember 
three consecutive words–
two words, maybe:

“Stop kicking…”

The third word catapults with
the what and the where,
changing channels
with every new activity,
leaving my son aimless,
scattering stones, 
snapping twigs,
belching at turned heads, 
spinning.

“S-T-O-P!”

What does stop mean with his 
thoughts ajar?
ADHD: attention 
without a footpath, 
a train without a brake.
Ignoring directions,
my son’s frontal lobe sputters
–winds and unwinds– 
toggling like a switch 
that switches…that switches…that switches,
careens him into space.

Spinning.

About the poet: 

Patricia Ljutic, a registered nurse, is director of the Home Health and Hospice Quality program at Vallejo Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospital,