In the aftermath
Of a very hot bath
Sylvia Plath
Used to re-read
Katherine Mansfield stories
Until she felt
A little bit snory.

Whilst Ted Hughes -
After he'd imbued
The cool waters of
A shower for an hour -
Would watch Jackanory
Till he felt Hunky Dory
Then listen to Aladdin Sane
To bring him back to
The real world again.

Watch That Man!

I have faith in medical science
But little in practice.
Straight spined doctors
Racing stopwatches against
Their appointment books.
Extolling the virtues of thousands of years of medical research
But unable to consider anyone's opinion other than their own.
Kindly, soft-voiced nurses shuffling from
Room to room
Doling out condolences and reassurances
Paired with regimens
Of drugs and IVs.
While Old Time in the ticking clock
Slows
To a dead crawl.
And the noise of heartbeats on machines
And discussions out in the hall
And loved ones distracting and pacifying patients in beds
Layer on top of one another to form a firm blanket of
Crushing. Boredom.
And the antiseptic smell does nothing to ease
The passing of time spent waiting
While the medical machine spins its wheels
To the chime of slot machines.
And the bustling rush outside a curtain
On hard white floors,
Does less than lend a sense a peace
But more of frantic urgency.
Minute long - task oriented visits
Where they know names, numbers, and insurance coverage
And they know how many steps it takes for them
To lend more of their valuable time
In that modern balance of cost and care.
Leaving me wondering,
Where did the connection go?
I wonder where peoples' trust went
And when it was replaced with,
"How much will this cost me?"

Who says you can't arm twist yourself into doing practically anything? Victoria Beckham — stylish mum, fashion empire czarina and social diva — took that notion a **** few notches higher as she posted a picture of herself on a sofa on a photo sharing site, leg extended high above her head at 90 degrees. The picture went viral immediately with a huge buzz around her impressive flexibility. She captioned the photo, 'It's amazing what you can do in culottes...those ballet classes are paying off!' (sic) It's not the first time she has showed off her moves. Last year in Singapore too, she kicked her stiletto-clad feet into a high pose as she relaxed on a sofa.

These celebs are advocating it, too...

Posh Spice aka Victoria isn't the only one. British actress Kelly Brook showed of her flexi *** on her sitcom show. Actresses like Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston have also taken up exercise regimens that stretch their bodies to the limit. Angelina Jolie's workouts are said to include the stability ball leg, squats and kickboxing, known build flexibility and balance. Jessica Biel is a firm follower of her five days a week cardio with strength training and pilates classes that have been credited with getting her such a lean ***. And Megan Fox ensures she is flexible, too.

Advantages of being stretchy

Being flexible and stretching out is not the realm of just gymnasts, athletes or swimmers. Anyone can and should be like that, for it's not just before starting a workout that one faces tight hamstrings and a sore back and neck. These are issues that plague those with sedentary jobs as well. Thus, flexibility can help in gym training and dealing with the stressors of everyday life. It also helps the body to heal. Increased flexibility also leads to improved posture. Once the earlier tightness goes away you start to sit right and walk better, too.

How Much?Stretching muscles twice a week is enough to build overall flexibility.

For anyone

A common myth is that being flexible will only work with younger people. It is actually for anyone of any age

Exercises to help you get there

Chest dumbbells: Lie flat on a bench, holding dumbbells in either hand. Now lift the dumbbells overhead together and slowly bring them back. This stretches the pectorals.

Abs stretch: Sit on the ground with the ankles facing each other and the knees flexed. Now put pressure on the knees and press them to make them touch the ground. Hold this for 20 seconds and repeat.

Shoulders delt: Hold the elbow of one arm with the other hand and pull the elbow across the chest. Hold and repeat for the other hand.

Curling cat: Kneel down on all fours and curl the back upwards in the same position. Hold this and start again. This increases flexibility of the back.

Hamstring stretch: Place your leg on any raised area in front you, like a stool or chair. Now, extend it straight without bending the knees and bend the torso to touch the toes. Hold for 15 seconds and repeat.Read more at:www.marieaustralia.com/formal-dresses-brisbane | www.marieaustralia.com/formal-dresses-melbourne

My mind becomes cluttered.
Since I was a kid.. the simplest of thoughts add on  top of one another.

even though there is a big lack of stimulus
Like a television with one hundred channels demanding "A  view"
the "medical clicker" is lost and your brain seem's "too full to align with clearing itself back to  complicity..".
You are full in the head..newer ideas are next to impossible
temperament becomes askew
The "treatment" is "stimulus"
the doctors mistake such as "mania"
Since a hyperactive child never grows..the energies never cease, as well.
Blind eyes, who fail to "look outside an unorganized box of practioner's recycled thoughts,"
could ever help (neither the victim nor the prescribe)
to place on the right pair of glasses
Such failed views .. clarity.. shall never be  something that  they "see" in order "to grow" or are willing to "grow with" refusing newer education and treatment grounds  
An open page of a "still unfinished book"
Such meanings
which all who need to be "open eyed" enough to be able to show them in order "for  them to ever  know"
To teach the afflicted
"How to channel the energies and the focus"
as you mind's eyes are "in need of glasses"
Give the wrong treatment
and the medicine can burn out clearer views
than the regimens he's tried and deemed "the only one"
Not one size fits all
Look to the old, however, might be a mix with the new?
"Not every remedy is addictive or harmful"
"nor does one pair of glasses clear the visions of all.."

just as these so called "experts say"
to " save your life is the quota"
not "how many cases in which the practitioners have half-way  saved.. walking on egg-shells..to save  their own careers"
(Shells)


It makes another successful life
from a once cluttered mind
to loyalty and honor of the one who had helped him
Such a a once lost patient does keep in his now "clearer mind."
Who cared more for the advancement and quality of life of the one who asked for his "helpful hands"
Not "Magic hands"
"openness" is always the "better mixture" of "pills and therapy"
The vision cure that always seems to be the math equation that leads to successful medical group and their great sounding cliche and "medical change and reprimands."
Not afraid in sticking up for the betterment of their one client
then such additions of success become an army
of the "grown children"
with the right "pair of glasses"
that see more than just a "glass" half full, however, "the world."

Now, this bright and more colorfully lit world will shed light to those left "in the blurred dark"
as the once lost were found and the found shall become part in healing
those professionals who chase "selective cases" like "hungry sharks."

Scintillating stars infinitely descend
Lambent soot embellishes the radius
Regimens purely exist to bend
Scintillating stars infinitely descend
An occult memorandum impends
Doctrines make not amends
Scintillating stars infinitely descend
Lambent soot embellishes the radius

I am intelligent
One of the smartest people you'll ever meet
I am unique
I follow my own drum to a different beat
I am funny
With tons of charisma
I am witty
I have a silver yet sharp tongue
I'm tired
I can sleep for hours upon hours at a time
When I'm awake
I'm always up for some fun
I am sad
Down in the dumps again
Detached  
I will leave you
Because I can
I will lift you up
Just to tear you down again
You will thinks it's over
That you got it all figured out
Then I'll remember why I loved you so much
And how I need you to come back
Because without you my life is not complete
And you need me too, so don't try to decline
We are meant for one another,
You and I
I will come and go over and over again
So you can hold fast or let go of me instead
I have compassion for others
Because of the way I am
But I feel sorry for myself
time and again
I like my own routine
Yet I want to give you all you need
I want you to stay
Please don't abandon me
Now I want you to leave me alone please
I need down time
Just for me
I need to vent
To my best friend
Where is she?
I am a dreamer
With an unquiet mind
I am reasonable and grounded
Yet I want to fly
I try my best to understand
and be sensitive to your wants and needs
I give
I take
I try to hide myself for your own sake
I constantly battle these thoughts in my mind
I fight with my demons all the time
I love a bed
I can stay there for days
I struggle with who I really am
Me or this disease?
I will love you like no other person possibly can
Deeply, passionately, with ever molecule of my heart
At first glance you fall and hard
But My love will be a huge double standard
With my constant battle against entropy
Between ideality and reality
Seeking a way out of this mundane, humdrum existence
I'm in
I cannot tell sometimes where my personality
ends and this illness begins
My daydreams turn to hypo-mania
With all these gray areas
All my choices are not rational all the time
I chose to react
I chose to get help
I chose to be better despite my illness inside
I will be passive aggressive and egotistical
All symptoms are different and coping mechanisms
are tailored for each individual
Religious fervor
Shopaholism
Insatiable libido
Are all hard for you to fathom
Along with my mixed state of mind
Sometimes I'll just want to die
You will feel pity
Then you will feel inspired
And it's admirable of you to weather
the storms with me
But foolish to let me always be the one under
the umbrella and you left in the rain
This relationship cannot be a competition
with my disease
I regard my illness as an intimate part of me
Something you will never understand
It's easy to confuse love with mania.
The problem is love is fleeting
there is no cure for bi-polar
Doctor visits,
blood tests,
complicated regimens of medications
until they find the magic combination
Delusions and hallucinations
Being misunderstood by a population
generally unfamiliar with my condition
You just don't understand.....
I hate myself for everything I think "I am"

vineyard ventures as dusk emerges,
city strolls under an overcast ceiling,
an evening partnered with a lilac vista
cowering behind the rising steel

there's a pizza joint just moments away,
and a coffee shop across the road;
these windows reveal too much --
intimate encounters and our rising intonation --
ignorance, a veil, defending hopeful grasps,
a cycle unturned of desperation repressed

violent retrospection rotted blue and grey
bleeding a warm scarlet through stitched skin
violet deception relied on predictable regimens,
championing the finale, marching away,
boasting the reality known to all,
savoring the painful recognizance  
soon to come

constructing walls endemic to home,
a malady suppressed within melting flesh --
time ticks silently in the background,
its roaring cries stifled by angst's grip,
spinning in moonbeams, dancing amidst the heavens,
inhaling the hesitant evening's mist,
musing on time and space's essence,
contemplating the laws of life and love.