{"id":2799,"date":"2026-09-19T12:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T12:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=2799"},"modified":"2026-10-15T00:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T00:43:17","slug":"severe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=2799","title":{"rendered":"Severe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">Opaque lights <br>flood the ceiling<br><br><br>I blink up<br>strain to find a focal point<br>not swaying, shifting, escaping me<br><br>My brain and my eyes both<br>move <br>slowly, mechanically.<br><br>Where am I?<br>What am I.<br>When is this? <br>Why can't I feel my limbs.<br><br>The orange box <br>that lurks on the dresser<br>it lingers and laughs at me<br>its generic toxins<br>throb through my temple<br>course through my faint pulse<br><br>Wobbling, weary, <br>sweat-ringed and caged<br>flail about in the sheets<br><br>I feel weightless <br>and weighed down <br>as wet concrete, <br>both<br><br>Drag my hand over damp duvet<br>clench the scalloped edge <br>until hand strength falters<br><br>I close my lids<br>force them back open<br>with an emphasis <br>that winds me.<br><br>What's worse?<br>The virus?<br>Or the antidote? <br><br>This<br>I ask myself<br>every flu season.<br><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cSevere,\u201d a short and interrupted poem on falling prey to the latest fall plague, written Saturday, September 19, 2026 poem 262 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo: &#8220;Severe,&#8221;  by Diana Ludwick \u00a9 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[3064,3060,3059,225,2620,705,2621,3062,3061,3063],"class_list":["post-2799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-poems","tag-bedridden","tag-cold","tag-flu","tag-illness","tag-late-summer","tag-saturday","tag-september","tag-severe","tag-severe-cold-and-flu","tag-sick"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2906,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799\/revisions\/2906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}