giving credit

I am sick to death

of words

like symptom and side effect.

Tired of being concerned

with diagnosis

and prognosis.

I am lost in a hazy maze

of terminology

that doesn’t

comfort

and doesn’t cure.

Bound by patterns

of exercise

and medication

that only bring me

a little closer

to that better day.

I am not quite ready

to embrace the

recommended

lifestyle changes,

I am the woman

my mother made.

Reviews

[Touché Armada]

Oh dear dear dear, I can only say oh dear.. I know what that is all about having suffered your road for 11 years, and I suffered to the point I really thought death would be a better option to life. Just remember one thing, when you think after many years all you want to do is die, you'll most likely finally make the changes you need to make to be well again.. And I hate to be a kill joy but state of mind is a good deal of it. Much love Emily.

[JENY]

Wow…
A nice piece of wisdom….
That exudes…in your lines…..
Impressed me…
Loved it…

[alan peter kelly]

i understand all too clearly the every nuance of this disturbing write...its power affects me deeply...almost to the point of tears...my interpretation is awash with memories of corpses strewn along a stream of burnt and yellowed pages thrown into the dark where they belong until my dying day...

[Zatoichi]

I like this very much- stay well.

[PianoandPage]

wow. powerful poem. just the right length.

this hit me hard as my wife has lupus and have witnessed the extreme level of stress and frustration that comes from having a disease with no cure; of drowning in terminology that makes everything meaningless. *hugs*

the last line was really interesting. parents i think are very responsible for the diseases that plague us in that they create the dysfunctions that are the breeding grounds for illness both mental and physical.

One small suggestion would be to shorten a line

“of terminology
That doesn’t
Comfort or care”

Which I think just helps keep the rhythm tighter.
I really enjoyed this piece. Thank you for sharing!

[paul]

yes, the woman your mother made, literally and figuratively
bound by patterns, yes. those binding patterns
a great expression of the boring difficult challenge of being ill.

[...]

. sometimes she's in a daze and sometimes she's in a maze ... but she goes on ... albeit slowly ... wondering and wandering ... skipping the puddles ... unripped stalkings et al ... and then suddenly ... one day ... it pours suddenly ... and no convincing is needed ... that's what she's waiting for ... for she is too sublime to fall a prey to conscious decisions ... let it all explode beneath your feet ... for you are grounded ... if only you knew how much you inspire me ... if only ...

[Jason Henry]

it's weird that on my return to the cafe, that i'd come across this gem. i share every sentiment here, except i've embraced the lifestyle changes so i find it difficult to write as i used writing as anaesthesia. but now i don't hurt...or i hurt far less than i did when i reached here. poetry was the side effect of the symptom... but writing is alot of fun. maybe true works like these will inspire me to return.

[Ed Hart]

which got me to thinking about the Humpty Dumpty rhyme...you know, old Humps really had to take that dive to be put back together again...not by the king's men, of course; it's one of those stay at home and do it yourself jobs...yes, "the woman my mother made"...that's a hard one; it's like a head full of splinters that we've learned to think around, but we can call them up, one at a time, and talk to them, and forgive them as we slowly pluck them out...

[Cheryl J. Turner]

I have been along this path, so many people telling you what is best for you to do, thinking they know what will make you better, or worse, just what is wrong with you - Putting labels upon what it is that you have. Eventually I realised that only I knew what was wrong with me, I may not have had the medical terms to describe it, but I knew me and only I could fix me. Sometimes the doctors don't know everything!