IB M

- the pain in my body is chronic... any movement exacerbates it... and well, can't go through life without movement...

Some sort of relief

Now that's a dream

Just it's unattainable

And I have to learn

To somehow live with it

How does one do that?

It's frankly humiliating

To be put in this position

In order for me to maintain

This gracious accommodation

I have to provide a note every

6 months to justify maintaining it

So I have to make a trip to the

Doctor's office to confirm

Making trips is an issue for me

As if this condition is ever

Going to see any improvement

Do you not see how ridiculous

Your procedure is in the context

Of a degenerative condition?

Each note will only ever say

The same as every previous ones

You're making me do what causes

Me the greatest pain to do, just

To get a note that will say the same

This brings me pain for no reason

Well, certainly none that I can find

Procedures are fine, but they need sense!

Really think about the position you're

Putting me in with this absurd request

A bit like asking a wheel-chair bound

Person to climb up the steps to get help, no?

- don't mind me... a bit down, I guess...

Anger isn't a feeling

I get very often...

But there is something

That's getting my goat...

About how it started in pain,

And how it'll end in pain...

That's my life.  It was out of

My hands then, still is today...

And nothing can help that.

Sometimes wonder

How long before

This constant pain

In my body'll make

Me lose it completely...

- brother...

He got insulted that I expressed

How unimpressed I was with

The way he handled things during

An unusual crisis that happened.

He'd totally gone with it as if any

Of it had any merit, as if this was

A usual thing to be happening for me,

He didn't even question a single thing.

So naturally, when all was said and 

Done, I for the first time expressed

How his behavior had not been satisfactory

In the circumstances of what was going on.

I did not appreciate the lack of respect

Or the heavy-handed response to a

Situation that was never my usual...

It was humiliating beyond any words.

So yeah, I was not pleased at all,

Seems to me to be a perfectly normal

Response that I did not like it one bit.

The funny thing is, he's insulted?

Man, he really does live on another planet.

I sort of get this may exasperate you,

But I think I'm not doing too badly

Considering everything, you know.

I could have turned out a whole

Lot more differently, don't you agree? 

So, come on now, cut me a break.

I have never imposed myself or

My problems your way, not once;

You know that is not in my nature.

I don't believe any of this has

Anything to do with me at all,

It's just you who doesn't know

What he should be saying back,

And getting frustrated at how little

There is that can be done by you.

But that wholly belongs to you. 

- after nearly 30 years mostly cooped up at home... unable to go out or be with people...

The real issue is that I'm alone

There's no one around at all

After all these decades isolated

There really is no one left and

It's unclear how to change that

I crave making connections today

But I can't make people appear and

I don't know where to find them

So I keep on being alone now

It's the thing left that pains me

Only hope I can find it a resolution

I don't know what it means 

When you have nothing to say,

And it bothers me to no end,

'Cause I imagine the worst.

I can't help feel like something

Is wrong, not as it should be,

And of course, that runs around

My mind quite endlessly.

I don't know what it means

When you have nothing to say,

I can't help wonder if you're ok,

If what I said is terrible or dumb.

I can't guess without your input.

I still carry that lack of self-assuredness

Whenever I find myself in the company

Of others, I'm never sure of anything...

I have high doubts that I'm interesting

As a person, or that I'm brilliant in any

Way, and what can I really talk about... ?

So all I can really do is listen to people,

And try to follow what they're on about;

Can't say that I always do, but I try...

I'm no longer terrified to be with others,

But I wouldn't say my level of comfort

Is very high for it, I'm just never sure...

And that always leaves me nervous.

Makes me wonder if it can ever be

Resolved, I've always been this way...

- sorry, sort of in the processing phase of how my life is so different now... I should get over it soon ;)

It'd never occurred to me

That I'd been through a lot

Until I started to see others'

Reactions on hearing about

My life, so as time went on,

Only then did it become clear

To me that it was filled with

Shocking things that horrify.

I've been abused and mistreated

As a child with my parents, so

Much fear, instability, violence,

I've been assaulted in my teens

When roaming the streets felt like

A better option than being home,

Then after those final assaults,

I've been unwell with symptoms

Of the traumas I've encountered,

Reliving the neverending nightmares

In uncontrollable overtaking flashbacks.

Everything was a struggle for so long,

And all efforts for so long only failures,

And the weight of the isolation a killer,

The despair a constant state with no

Foreseeable resolution.  Everything was

Dire, everything was painful, there was

No clear reason to wish to carry on living,

And I almost died at my hand many times.

But today, that's not my life anymore,

And as happy as I am about it, I'm

Needing a minute to process it all;

I think I'm awed that it's happened.

Seeing as this is relatively recent,

Saying that I'm used to this wouldn't

Be exact, it feels strange in some

Measure, 'cause feeling good was

Never much of a reality before.

Yet now, it's what every day is.

Feels like I can count lucky stars.