Blood Sugars and Beer: A D-Blog Week Poem

Welcome to Day Two of Diabetes Blog Week 2014!

Today's topic, as Karen puts it over at BitterSweet Diabetes:
This year, Diabetes Blog Week and TuDiabetes are teaming up to bring out the poet in you! Write a poem, rhyme, ballad, haiku, or any other form of poetry about diabetes. After you’ve posted it on your blog, share it on the No Sugar Added® Poetry page on TuDiabetes, and read what others have shared there as well!

I'm actually excited about this prompt, as I get to channel my inner-poet that really doesn't get much practice these days. With so much journalistic news coverage and blogging, my creative writing and poetic genes haven't been worked out much in the years since college... That's how I got started writing, with a Batman-inspired short story back in third grade called "The Diamond Men." And as the years rolled on, poetry was my passion.... pretty much up until high school and college, when journalism became more of a priority. I miss it, so this is a great way to exercise that past poetic love! I doubt it's any good, but hey it will be on point and from my mind.

Plus, since it's American Craft Beer Week, this is a perfect time to get a little beer writing out of the system too!  Pictured below, Michigan-made oatmeal stout called The Poet.

Clears my throat, mutes my Dexcom G4 alarms, and steps up to the virtual blogging stage to being a slam-blog poem post:


Carb Estimate: 13g/beer
A good beer, a good blood sugar.
One in the same, yet quick to fizzle
So similar in taste, in waste, in haste
That first taste after being uncapped
Defines how we drink on.

Excited and appreciative we can be.
When it starts out so smooth, so steady.
So full of life, energy and hops one moment.
Steady strohs and sugars so straight and uninterrupted.
A bottle and Dexcom to toast, to praise what we hold.
In our hands, in our hearts.
At that one moment in time.
Life is good, a smile and sip on the lips for that moment.
Hope that it's right, is accurate as it feels.
Not a fleeting reading on our tongue or fingertip.
One that twists away, like a bottle cap removed
Discarded in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, the bubbles of jubilation fizzle away.
An emptiness creeps in.
Like we've shaken the bottle,
And what was settled inside, explodes into chaos.
Spilling everywhere with wasted energy.
Highs go Low, control goes flat (or not so delicious).
Sips of happiness
Turn into gulps of unhappiness.
Maybe juice or sugar dust to wash it down.
Then, we're left empty -- just like you.
Once full, now empty inside.
Waiting for a surge of new energy to fill this cup again.


Don't forget to follow the rest of the DOC who are participating in D-Blog Week, and you can see the full list of topics and participants over at BitterSweet Diabetes. And you can follow along on Twitter, by using the hashtag #DBlogWeek.

Comments

Anonymous said…
As a lover of a good brew and a T1, I think this poem is smashing. What a great metaphor.
Kelley said…
Now I want a beer! :-P
Rhonda B said…
I don't even like beer, and this made me want one! Great job!
Kerri. said…
Like Rhonda said, I'm not a beer drinker, and yet I want one now. :)
Laddie said…
Beer and diabetes. I would have never thought to compare them, but what you wrote actually made sense with an artistic twist. Sadly beer is a warm weather beverage for me and spring shows no signs of coming to Minnesota.
StephenS said…
Leave it to Mike H. to wax poetic about beer (and T1D). I'm so jealous. Great poem.
HVS said…
Excellent metaphor. I don't like beer, but oh-so-similar they are.
Mindy Bartleson said…
I LOVE this. Beer and Diabetes- love the comparison.
Melissa Lee said…
Love the line about the bottle cap twisting off. This is really good, Mike. I'm not a beer drinker, but I am a lover of metaphor well done. Great job.
Mike Durbin said…
Nicely done, Mike. Cheers!
Diabetic Life said…
@Rhonda B: i appreciate with you.

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