Today's Excellent Conference - Poem: The Conference

Shucks! I lost my entire post about

AN ALL DAY CONFERENCE WITH THE IMPROBABLE NAME OF "ACCESS AND FUNCTIONAL NEEDS SYMPOSIUM"

I bought a carton of eggs at the conference
held at my very own Giant Supermarket
where I slogged up the stairs in my clogs
Was up in the middle of the night in my
cool-enough basement fearing non-existent spiders
as I read Willa Cather and a book about
kidney transplants. You mean, this is what I
went through when I was out for the count?

Me and Barry Bush, but who's counting as
diabetes and hypertension catch more
end-stage kidneys in its net. For godssakes
stop drinking Pepsi and eating Tastycakes.

This was some conference! I don't believe
I snored but I only missed about 10 minutes
in the first session about being deaf or
hard of hearing. The speaker or shall I say
"signer" was from Rochester, NY, and spoke
with so much expression on her face, her
arms and hands, she could have been
a female Baryshnikov.

The vision impaired seminar was next. Aunt Selma
with her macular degeneration at 99. Mom, who
just bought new eyeglasses at Costco, but hasn't
put them on yet.

My favorite? Mr Red Cross, I said
to him when his hour-long talk was over. 
I wanted to see your name, which swung
from a long necklace atop his well-stocked
belly.

He goes out to disasters, like a recent plane crash.
The plane lies dead like a fallen eagle in the
middle of a grassy field, splashed with blood.
Neighbors are recruited to pick up body parts,
a leg here, an arm there. But it's their
belongings that get to you, said Wayne.

A red leather pocketbook, a school picture
of a long-haired child, a silver bracelet.

Wayne goes home to North Wales, sits in his
recliner, with a cup of hot tea his wife
brings him, and begins to sob, a cleansing,
he calls it. I hear him crying now!  His
sobs ring out in the night.
We are forever grateful for our
Red Cross man.

***

Were it the photos?

Ready?

Stay awake, Ruthie! Stay awake!

 This girl's hair deserves a poem.

 Sharon talked about the challenges about being deaf - she was 2 when she lost her hearing - or being hard of hearing.  Several people translated in spoken language what she was signing.

Hello, Neil McDermott. I had one question I needed to ask him.

He's deaf and is one of the translators.

Neil, I asked. When you are signing, dyou make sure that your verbal translator can SEE YOU?

Yes was the answer.

 I enjoyed hanging around this group of signers. They had never met before. Possibly Neil McDermitt organized the conference.

How could I NOT know?

I did not know.

 Sheryl talked about the visually impaired. She had various types of glasses you looked into which demonstrated the various types of vision loss.

The Red Cross Man.

Altho I called him Wayne, I don't know his name. I have a paper with his name on it but I'm too tired to get it out.

I took my roast beef on soft roll, potato salad, tossed salad with added fruit, and a choc chip cookie to the eating area downstairs.

Went home as I had to get ready tonight for a meeting of the Upper Moreland Historical Association which was about shipbuilding at Hog Island in South Philly.



Fascinating! Scott knew all about it.

Time to work on my short story, due early tomorrow.

Look what came today! Bill Hess has wrin two books. This is his second.