Poem: Chronic

 

Chronic

 

the pains in my body

have been many creatures.

some with poison.

some with teeth.

 

they’ve done their best

to slay patience,

ensnare the wings

of my mind;

 

and my tendons

have struggled in their webs,

my nerves gnawed

by their scorpions and widows.

 

i’ve lost many times,

pinned down by sobs,

surrendering to hate.

 

when i can walk,

how different life’s moments are.

how naïve--

 

the little smiles and frowns

of the ordinary,

childlike in the gaps

between the knives.

=====================

Longterm chronic gout, took many years just to get the correct diagnosis.  I've spent about four full years of my life on crutches with active gout flare ups.  Sometimes in a wheelchair.  Lots of related atrophy, injury and arthritic issues.  These days I can walk a fair distance with a cane, no active flares.  

For one injury, I waited a year to get treatment, because in America, medical treatment is not a right, and I would've had to pay $9000 before the insurance company even began to help out.  I didn't have that money to spare.  I had to wait until I could figure out some better insurance.  This is how we live in the USA.

Americans who vote for Republicans continue to vote for this system, and more and more tax breaks for the wealthy, and less medical assistance for everyone else.  They were completely enspelled by the demagoguery of radical right politicians, even before Trump brought charismatic fascism on board, further tattering a tattered, broken democracy.   

One thing our mainstream newspapers still get right (New York Times):  democracy is, at best, moribund  when  over 70% of the total wealth is owned by .1% of the population.

The sad story of America is great wealth and power after WWII, and then that wealth and power causing greater and greater corruption and decline, the moral fabric of the people degenerating d into cheap hedonisms, petty envy, pernicious bickering and decadence for the wealthy.   That said, there was an awakening, too, of values of equality and Earth-awareness, a counterforce to the corruption, and the longstanding climate of vicious racism, which originated in slavery and only intensified in the South after the Civil War to end slavery.