“ABCDEFlu”
Written in February 2026
Anxiety isn’t what’s causing the intense banging in my head,
but rather, the pounds ought to come from the sickness I’ve so unfortunately
caught.
Don’t come around me I must warn you, please don’t
even try to, because I have come down with a case of the oh-so-terrible
flu.
Going from perfectly fine to a state of getting zero
homework done because of the intense chill goes to show how I’m just so
Ill.
“Just kidding!” I beg my body to tell me.
“Kidding and you’re actually okay!” Yet I still feel like in my bed I should
lay.
Maybe my body just needs a bit of reassurance, so here’s to
no more illness for the next few years in sight! But now I need to focus on what to do
overnight.
Perhaps I should simply wait it out,
question my body’s workload and continue my healing journey down this miserable
road.
Sunshine is what I should aim for, and I,
too, should avoid the thunder that is making me feel so far down
under.
Very sick, I do feel, but I can tune out the noise
when I’m almost certain I’ll eventually be okay without a single mention of an
x-ray.
Yellow, still, is what I’d love to feel right now,
but I guess blue’s okay as long as my body doesn’t feel like a complete
zoo.
A Note From Roderick
“ABCDEFlu” was a very interesting poem to develop. I did, in fact, write it while sick with the flu, making for a very difficult and exhausting drafting experience. The head bangs and chills were undoubtedly present (a little bit of nausea, congestion, and vomit might’ve attended the party too), which ended up shaping the poem’s content. It was my first attempt at writing an abecedarian, which is a poem where each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet, which created a natural progression from frustration to acceptance that demonstrated the way my sickness was unfolding. I think I did a decent job at crafting a relatable poem that followed this structure, especially for being ill. Overall, while it may not be one of my deepest works, writing “ABCDEFlu” was an experience I’ll never forget.