Bits of me

 A shareable version for those who have asked.

"BITS OF ME"

"They" separate my body from my aching, broken heart.

Dividing my complexity into manageable parts

They amputate my mind from my body and declare

That there's no obvious reason for the symptoms that I bear

They search my cells, my immune profile,

They study all my genes

They use their centrifugal force to examine and to clean

My diet gets such scrutiny, eat more! Eat less, they cry

Whilst someone else thinks differently, eat less, eat none, here's why!

More protein, but less fat, and don't forget to count the carbs

The food police are out there wearing scrubs and medical garb.

You need an audiologist, a stroke clinician too, call diabetic medicine and the asthma guys should do

A little quick assessment and 

neurology as well

If the liver docs could join us then that would just be swell.

We will divide and conquer your body bit by bit

Your mind is not important, we have to get you fit

Call in the physio team and then let's  photograph your eyes

You are on the list for counselling, 2 years wait, that's no surprise. 

Somehow in between this endless list of tests and consultations

I am a human being, a whole person with emotions.

I'm left to join the dots up when they finish their disection

Left as a single body trying to go in all directions

Trying to please them all and to tick each empty box 

Feeling that I am between a hard place and a rock.

We need holistic attitudes that see us as a whole

Not multiple demands with completely different goals.

Society will do it too

Treating us like machines

Removing human contacts

It's progress! But it seems

The opposite.

I'm tired of it, oh turn the clock back please

And try to find our way back to appreciating trees

And birdsong and all nature and step 'backwards' into peace

And wholeness and completeness, let separation cease

For we are all interconnected, but we've somehow lost our way

And we seem to get more separate and lost with each new day.

Karen Holmes

7.9.23