Jun 03 2009
Poetry From the Playground
I wrote this poem today as I waited for my daughter to get out of school. Anyone who uses a wheelchair (or other mobility device such as a scooter) to get around will understand it. If you don’t use a wheelchair, remember that in the chair sits a human being.
View From The Chair
You walk by me
As if I am not there.
My legs may not be strong
But my mind is.
These wheels do not shield
Me from the world.
They do not make me blind.
I see you as you pass me by.
My body reminds you
Of your own mortality.
Yours reminds me
Of my own.
You find temporary escape from truth
As you pretend I don’t exist.
Yet when you close your eyes
Mine are open wide.
9 responses so far
I so sympathise with you – and your poem captures so much.
I thought I was falling into fybromyalgia a couple of years ago – I was suffering increasing pain in joints all over my body, was really tired and feeble. I was lucky, I had my thyroid removed 10 years ago and the consultant I see spotted I was taking a multivitamin with iron that was blocking my thyroid medication and once I stopped taking it the combination of T4 and T3 (that I had fought for) started taking effect again and I got much better, apart from increasingly numb toes and general tiredness. Now I have been tested for coeliac disease and in my mind I have little doubt that that is what I have although I am still waiting for the official diagnosis. I have now been without gluten for exactly 8 days and am just starting to feel my tummy improving and haven’t had any flareups of my toes which had been burning and throbbing and keeping me awake. They are still numb – but I can live with that – the pain is something else and I do hope you find some relief for yours.
I am sure you have considered thyroid and gluten intolerance – both of which are associated with fybromyalgia, but if you are unlucky your doctor will be slavish about your blood test results rather than diagnosing on symptoms which the more enlightened endocrinologists do. I won’t go on further here but if anything in my story strikes a chord do ask further. There’s also this link I found:
http://surefoodsliving.com/2008/11/06/fibromyalgia-chronic-fatigue-and-gluten-intolerance/
Forgive me if this is all old ground that you have been over many times.
Thanks for the comment and kind words about my poem, Mary-Louise. I’m new to poetry so it was sort of a leap of courage for me to post it.
As for thyroid and gluten: check and check again. I’m on all the good thyroid meds and gluten has long been banished from my diet. Both brought their own improvements but not the miracle cure that I wish they were. Fibromyalgia is such a strange illness that masquerades and is mimicked by so many other things. Often times when someone finds a ‘cure’ it is because they didn’t have fibro in the first place, but some other similar manifesting illness. However, it is good advice to those with fibro to get their thyroid checked (and not be pacified by a simple TSH test that shows within ‘range of normal’) and to explore food intolerances, gluten being a very big one.
Hi sweety, that poem is very lovely and also very sad in that you even had to write it at all you know? I hope alot of people read it and get a better understanding of your feelings because I think it’s important for those who can walk around without trouble to understand that just because someone is in a wheelchair it doesn’t mean they are some kind of subhuman. :(
Love you.
{{{hugs}}} Beautifully written.
Love Val
Beautiful poem Katie, It is so sad and so true. Thank you for sharing, education is the key and so many are clueless and blissfully so. I think poetry is a wonderful way to convey your feelings and get them out to those who need to read it. Hopefully some will see it who need it most.
Take care of you.
Commenting on the fibro-gluten-thyroid issues…I’ve been on the same marry-go-round. Banish one bad boy, improvement, but minor or temporary at best. I’m not thyroid deficient, gluten intolerant (although I try to minimize it), have all but stricken cow’s milk products from my diet due to casein intolerance, and still the improvement is nice initially, then mellows out into the same old routine. I’m in less pain than I once was only because I’m overly medicated which I need to back off of once again…same old cycle meds up, meds down, meds everywhere around :) I’m trying to get back to more supplementation and less medication.
You are a gifter writer. I look forward to Unravelling with you!
Beautiful poem.
I’ll see you in Unravelling class!
Hey Katie,
I was in a wheelchair for about 4 months after surgery. Boy was that an eye opener. I can totally understand what you’re saying. Having no ‘voice’ when being pushed was my biggest issue. I wanted to go one way, they had another plan and I had no control. Ugh.
People talked about me right over my head as if I didn’t understand English. It was the most peculiar experience.
I have always been very compassionate but I think I’m more so now.
Meg aka nutmeg