Lela Hannah

Wheel of Life

My grandmother and I watched
Wheel of Fortune in the 90s
with the volume muted,
English, a language not fully understood.

Our time was measured
in R, S, T, L, N, E,
a new car, a trip to Puerto Rico.

Vanna White was a household name.

My grandmother and I watched
Wheel of Fortune in the 2000s,
volume muted,

time reduced to
three consonants and a vowel,
bankruptcy, lost turns.

Vanna White
was the favorite celebrity
of the hospice nurse.

I watch
Wheel of Fortune,
volume all the way up,
time measured in silence.

Lela Hannah's poetry has been published in Typehouse Literary Magazine, The Light Ekphrastic, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Ekphrastic Review, New Note Poetry, and elsewhere. She holds a BA in Integrative Studies from George Mason University. Lela is a neurodivergent writer and poet living with ADHD.