Name the feeling
but first you must recognize it
for what it is, and
realize what it is

Do it fairly specifically

Even when you use
a concrete term to describe
your feeling (ex. anger)
there is a gamut, or range:
annoyed
or raging mad?

This should be identified
clearly

To an outsider this looks easy. You don’t understand the importance of accuracy.

You’ve never seen the terrors of lows in the night. You don’t understand that my blood-curdling screams aren’t a fight.

When the hallucinations come you won’t know it’s DKA, you’ll just laugh at whatever goofy things I say.

You can’t relate to the pain on my fingers tips, or the hurt in my heart from ignorant others in relationships.

You can’t fathom the literal pain in my skin, from an unstable A1C I’d been living in.

You’ll never know the fear of dying in your sleep, or the night terrors when your low slumber is deep.

Or how about the shame of my body scars from years of injections? It makes it hard to accept words of affection.

I’m mad at this world that says they’re here to assist. They say they’ll put my concerns on their list.

Their “acts of kindness” only apply to those with money. Content with their charity they live on in harmony.

I remember 35
Like it was 25 years ago.

I had hair then.
Was in my eighth year of teaching.
Had four children at home,
A dog.
A cat.

Unbounded energy,
Exuberance,
Passion,
Conviction

Stress fed my bones,
Canceled my fears,
"Work harder
Before the night falls!"

Night is falling.
Sixty is nearly here.
I am nearly gone,
And yet you linger,
A soul standing in periphery.

35.
What is the point of living
If the past cannot be left,
And the present stand still
To let us dress each other's wounds,
Forgive our others' sins,
Let us, limping as we are,
Move toward the center,
Again to begin?

Where have the daily poems gone?  
That’s how I start my day, and I miss them.
June 27 was the last date one showed on my Mac.  
Was nothing worthy in the ensuing week?  
Is Eliot unwell?  Who chooses the Dailies?
Is that person also unwell.
Does anybody know anything.
Somebody tell me something.
                        ljm