Hello! Once again, we are recognizing NaPoWriMo by looking at a Hattie Jean Hayes original. This poem, The Morning in My Chest, represents the first writing I ever did about my experience with chronic chest pain. You can read more about it here. That essay would not exist without this poem.
We’re going to look at two drafts, then the published poem.
In my first draft, written in late February 2021, I approached this as a prose poem. I remember waking up and, still in bed, writing the first few sentences in a stream of consciousness:
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