A Legend Is Born

After I was born
the doctor
held me upside down
by my feet

but I still did not cry
the doctor smacked me.
But I did not cry
the doctor smacked me

a second time harder
but I still did not cry.
They were worried
because I would not take

a breath that first breath
of life needed to live.
The doctor smacked me
a third time very hard

and I did not stop
crying for six months.
Few babies are born
knowing life is over rated.

The maternity nurses
hated me I disturbed
their nightly card games
with my constant crying

loud constant crying
I was a hungry baby.
In those days experts
believed in feeding

all babies the same
amount of milk
regardless of weight
size in ignorance.

I was a hungry baby
I was hungry.
My constant crying
loud constant crying

should have been enough
to tell these experts that.
The head nurse called me
Crash Craddock she wanted

to crash my little head in
thus a legend was born.
In the duration of a few
hungry loud screaming

nights a legend was born.

poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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