In the fall of 2006 the NHF’s Headache Education and Support Group facilitators invited their attendees to submit headache-related poetry. Because interest in this project grew, it was opened up to all who visit the NHF’s web site, as well as those who read NHF HeadLines.
The NHF received a variety of headache-related submissions. We have selected poems, limericks and verse that are relatable to those who suffer with this disease.
We extend our sincere thanks to all who submitted their work.
By Kit Willihnganz, Kentucky
What terrible memory
has exploded in my brain,
like artillery bursting into action
causing nerves to fire
random and blinding?
Let this war end, I pray,
but the pain keeps me
struggling through dark and silence.
I try to negotiate a ceasefire
with heating pads and pills
but I begin to think
that this war must come from
deeper inside me that my nerves,
down past the blood-brain barrier
to my mind.
This ache begins there
with my toxic recollections-
that first love I threw away
the parents I let down
the sister whose head I keep butting.
One of these must be responsible.
Why else would I tell
the ER doc that I need to be forgiven?
