Today is quadrille Monday and De Jackson is hosting the prompt. The word to use in your 44 word poem (not including the title) is giggle, giggles, giggling, or giggler. Come join us and real these wonderful short poems at: https://dversepoets.com/2017/02/27/quadrille-27/
Mr. Giggles
The old man is bent like a pretzel.
He has this perpetual Joker smile
a buzz haircut,
and is dressed in identical sweats every day.
His head snaps from left to right
Constantly – he giggles without stopping.
Even in his sleep he giggles.
Quadrille#27 Monday
27 Feb 2017 34 Comments
in General Poetry Tags: Alzheimer's, dementia, dVerse Poets Pub, madness, Quadrille, short free verse poetry
kanzen sakura 
Feb 27, 2017 @ 17:30:09
I find this guy equal parts silly and creepy. 😉 Hope it brought you a smile to write it, Toni. 🙂
Feb 27, 2017 @ 17:31:36
He is actually very sad. He scares my mother silly and she always whispers, let’s go past him…fast! ahh, life in the skilled nursing facility.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 17:32:07
At first I thought ‘oh thats cute’. But then I read it again, and a third time, and now I’m quite creeped out by this… Excellent writing.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 17:34:08
He is a very sad and yes, creepy man at the facility where my mother is now housed. She is afraid of him but luckily, she only sees him once a day in the hall.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 17:42:50
ominous…
Feb 27, 2017 @ 18:12:12
Giggles in his sleep I did giggle at that….nicely done Toni..
Feb 27, 2017 @ 18:37:14
This made me miss my grandpa.. I was too small when we lost him. I don’t think he’s a creepy one. 🙂
Feb 27, 2017 @ 18:46:18
I like the way your described him – bent as pretzels ~ I will be scared of him too ~
Feb 27, 2017 @ 19:09:37
I find Mr Giggles rather sad….a lost soul who was once young and vibrant….now wandering the halls searching for himself. Your words touched me.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 19:42:19
This made me laugh out loud because I can’t decide if he’s funny or the bogeyman.
❤ ❤ ❤
Feb 27, 2017 @ 19:49:36
He is actually a sad little man with PBA. Very sad.
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Feb 27, 2017 @ 20:16:00
I guess not all giggling is a sign of healthy living. I hope he gets better.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 20:19:39
Hhe is in his late 70’s and has dementia in addition to PBA. This is as good as it gets, sadly.
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Feb 27, 2017 @ 20:17:53
Lucky him. He likely never watches the news, lol.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 20:20:52
The poor thing has PBA and dementia. I don’t think he is aware of the news.
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Feb 27, 2017 @ 20:48:25
Sounds to me like he’s one happy camper. That’s quite descriptive, a great picture of happiness. The picture of the buzz cut and the workout sweats paints a giggly picture.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 21:35:55
I’ve seen that in dementia patients before. It’s a form of neurological pathology I think. Can’t recall what part of the brain it affects. Maybe frontal lobe? Sad, really. And it must be exhausting.
Feb 27, 2017 @ 21:56:04
Yes, pseudoBulbar Affect. It is extremely sad. My little mama is frightened of him although she understands he has a disease. It is a disease that would frighten me as well if I were in her condition.
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Feb 27, 2017 @ 22:16:09
My wife calls one of the grandsons Mr. Rickles, cuz he looks him & giggles hysterically at everything.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 00:07:23
Oh yes, I can see this happening… so sad when it happens, so sad the you frighten people..
Feb 28, 2017 @ 04:00:16
You weave a beautiful poem here with the internal rhyme and it seems as if he is spared the conscious awareness of his condition.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 07:24:51
Oopss.. he sounds a bit troubled…
Feb 28, 2017 @ 07:41:09
I thought he must be a very happy man, until I read your reply to whimsygizmo…sometimes you have to wonder.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 08:30:51
You put a vivid image…but the giggle somehow seems a bit depressing too!
Feb 28, 2017 @ 08:44:30
I found this very touching Toni in a sad kind of way.
My lovely hub has PBA – a result of brain injury caused by a tumour. Before his dementia progressed, he was always very embarrassed by his ‘inappropriate’ laughter (really it is laughter and crying combined) and wished he had control over it, but of course he hasn’t.
It is sad that those that can’t control a particular behaviour are deemed as creepy, but I guess it is human nature to fear what we don’t understand.
Kind regards
Anna :o]
Feb 28, 2017 @ 09:59:09
PBA is indeed very sad and I am so sorry to hear about your husband. If you read some of mybreplies to people, you will see that I also find the man very sad. One remark about not watching the news struck me as particularly offensive, especially ciming from someone I felt would have been more sensitive to an issue. My mother is frightened by him but her disease has kickked in hard as well. And if someone hasn’t had disease or dementia in their lives, they are so blinking clueless. Only a couple of people picked up on the sadness of the old man. My best wishes to you and your husband Anna. Thank you.
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Feb 28, 2017 @ 15:20:04
Cheers Toni for your welcome response.
I am a retired mental health nurse and all my working life, apart from my hubs Michael, I have never come across PBA. If I had, I would have researched it until I understood. Thing is, even some nurses don’t and so don’t pass their learning on to the lovely carers.
In the care home Michael lives – and believe me it is a wonderful care home- if ever Michael presents with his laughing/crying, staff (including nurses) are very attentive asking him what is wrong.
However many times I inform this attention causes him serious embarrassment and thus increases his uncontrollable emotion, making him laugh/cry more – it appears to go over their heads. They just don’t understand PBA and probably never consider it, possibly have forgot all about it, when he presents as he does.
I do understand how your mother is frightened (in the nursing facility she ?resides in) by the behaviours of that sad and probably equally frightened man. I imagine care homes are pretty scary for the residents who present with dementia and possibly even scarier for residents that don’t.
As said, it is human nature to fear what we don’t understand and we certainly fear dementia. Perhaps if I didn’t have my background in mental health nursing I would fear that man, find him creepy too.
Love and best wishes to you and your mother too Toni.
Kind regards
Anna :o]
Feb 28, 2017 @ 17:22:35
Thanks for your poem calling attention to PBA and dementia. That’s what I was thinking when I read it, then the comments after I see were about it. My father had dementia, and it was/is a sad and disturbing condition.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 17:50:35
Yes it is. I am grateful my mom doesn’t have it. She has had a couple of strokes and has Alzheimers. I a m so sorry to hear your father had it.
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Feb 28, 2017 @ 20:33:42
Oh, wow. Though sad, your succinct poem tells a piece of an important story. Excellent.
Feb 28, 2017 @ 20:39:26
Thank you for being one of the few who “git” this poem.
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Mar 01, 2017 @ 16:37:17
As soon as I read the poem, I thought mental illness. Then scrolling through the comments, I researched PBA; a neurological disorder characterized by emotional incontinence. Poor fellow you speak of. Important to bring understanding through one’s poetic voice.
Mar 02, 2017 @ 11:26:08
We are all at some point just on the outside looking in. Profoundly oberservational writing.
Mar 03, 2017 @ 12:16:29
Toni, I think that many people here are ignorant of PBA. My darling Aunt Jean who died at 102 in 2014, had it. She would answer the phone and start laughing. I didn’t understand until after she died. It’s uncontrollable, either laughing or crying. Now I know and I also know the elderly who have this syndrome. I got your poem immediately because I’ve seen this. Thank you so much for bringing this very important issue to the forefront of our consciousness. Perhaps some of us one day will understand these tragic things and not think they are politically wrought.
By the way, I am a poet and writer because of my Aunt Jean. She was Hungarian, born in Hungary, and when she came here at 24, she was sent back to confront the Nazi government (Galambos) in court to get back her parents and grandparents land. They had a wonderful and huge vineyard. At 24, in court she faced down the Nazi judges. She lost, but what a courageous and vigorous young woman! She made that trip with a companion (necessary) on the Queen Mary. She was my inspiration all my life,, and every poem I wrote she insisted on reading…even the bad ones. I miss her guiding influence in my life so much. She was my real mother.
Thank you, again, Toni, for writing this poem. It is not at all creepy to me. It is a tragedy when we don’t understand the underlying conditions of PBA.