M.E. (Anacrostic)

Memories escape me…
You’d think I’m older than I am…
Autonomic nervous system misfiring…
Lucky I have a sense of humour –
Grief would otherwise be smothering –
I remain optimistic
Counsel myself to find the lesson

Every day is a question mark
Needs ever changing
Can I walk without aids?
Endure a drive in the car?
Past my time without overexerting?
Healing requires restorative sleep
Although, it’s been years since I woke up refreshed –
Letting go of such expectations part of the learning –
Occasionally energy comes in bursts,
Mostly, it’s a trick…
Yesterday’s self no longer exists
Energy a quagmire…
Longing does not equal capability
Initiative encounters brick walls
Too often I overdo it
Insensitive to my own reality
Stubbornly unwilling to learn.

(Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is the disease I’ve lived with for 10 years now. I’ve collected a few more to keep it company along the way, and, of course, had one or two issues to start with. Anyway, I was recently inspired to write an acrostic poem. I’m sure there is more left to learn about living with these challenges. Image my own, as usual.)

Post-Celebration Pause

A wrapping paper remnant
glimmers beside sofa leg

Uneaten chocolates and
sugar cookie delights tempt

The chorus of voices
fades into mind’s recesses

The fullness of the day
tucked warmly within

The advantage of age
is the ability to imbibe
in the post-celebration pause.

(Wishing everyone the warmest of pauses this holiday season.)





Pondering Abstracts

The certainty of yesterday
has slipped our grasp
light deflecting truth
tosses us into the abstract

I ponder process
and outcomes,
will my mind to carry me
gliding between thermals
dissolving into vapours

Some realities
too hard to bear –
dislodged
we tread the indeterminate.

(Poem originally appeared on One Woman’s Quest II, December ’19. Image my own)

Varnish

Ice has blown in overnight
tree branches coated,
sparkling…

… I search for a word
evasive, my fogged brain
having released so many
to the void…

“Varnish?” I ask aloud
“What’s that?” comes an answer
my son-in-law always helpful
spies my hand on butcher block

“Do you mean the finish on the wood?
That’s varnish, yes.”

“No.” I bite my trembling lip.
Indicate the scene outside the window,
the tree with its new shiny coat

“Like varnish!” he exclaims
“That works.”

“Nature’s varnish!” I proclaim

Creativity –
a sometimes bi-product
of a faulty mind.

(Image my own)

Trinkets

I’m returning the jewels
loaned to me

Settling
for smaller trinkets…

…a teddy bear
a paper parasol…

I know it’s been a while
but I haven’t forgotten

It’s harder these days
relying on others

Accommodations unnerve
so I stay away…

…a silver ring
a hat for Teddy…

It’s enough really
I haven’t much to spend

but your faith in me
means a lot

and warmed by our connection
I’m willing to invest…

I don’t need diamonds or pearls
just trinkets to remind me…

(Image my own)