Poesy – Dr Rod’s Odd Blog (almondemotion)

I move through empty space.

Although if you are my brother,

Ancient Greek scholar (he’s a Greek scholar, not ancient).

This would not be surprising,

The Waterboys, Gene Kelly & Worm Moon 2022.

I thought of the residents of my care home,

Was it disturbing their mental continence?

Would it influence me?

My mum – for International Women’s Day 8 March 2022

My mum Would pass thread through the eye of a tiny needle and perform what she called invisible stitches. It was what all the ladies wanted. The middle-aged women would call-in at our house Requesting alterations to aid their spread, their girth expansion from the time in-between diets. Mum would sit at her Singer sewingContinue reading “My mum – for International Women’s Day 8 March 2022”

Thinking mindful – geriatrician asks his followers to ‘get high’

My mind has been in a Japanese meta-reality rather than on Wong Lane

Shady Towers, Social Care, Nora and Whitey on the Moon.

The PM announced a rise in NI tax this week. I understand this is to offset some of the damage they have done to the NHS over the past decade. Fantastic. (And yes, Whitey is still on the moon).

Sorry

Sorry for the preamble.

Chaos theory. Calamity in action.

The misdirected guided by the uninformed.

Babyteeth

It’s a comedy,

Although I don’t remember laughing.

Mystical motor forest

I guess the trees were too closely packed, or, I never found the entrance.

Where the Crawdads sing.

Just finished Delia Owens’

Where the Crawdads sing.

Shuggie Bain; not a book review

It is a wonderful poetic chaos of characters, moods and emotions.

Today they took my dog’s womb.

The vet, Friendly young woman in dark blue scrubs Face mask and clipboard, Took me through The ins and outs of the procedure. Operation to render my dog Sterile. / My last dog Maisie Was also spayed Although I seem to have lost the memory. / Now, Stella, As she cowers, Under my desk, BesideContinue reading “Today they took my dog’s womb.”

Lockdown Saturday

Half past six on Saturday night Fireworks are popping, Banging outside; dark and cold with mist. I liked this morning’s cobwebs; now they have moved-on. The hum of TV downstairs threatens another dancing programme I consider Netflix Or a book, Not really interested. The dog In the corner house Barks when I walk past; HeContinue reading “Lockdown Saturday”

Covid, pants and barriers to communication

I met an old man last week, his pants were poking out of his pyjama bottoms. They were the same as mine M&S blue stars; I was going to tell him and everyone else in the room about our shared underwear but, the facemask and the goggles, gown and gloves Got in theContinue reading “Covid, pants and barriers to communication”

IDLES Lorax beauty & we all fall down.

I am the Lorax.

I speak for the trees

For the trees have no tongues.

IDLES shout for me.

Care Home; acceleration towards time.

dim lights that cast no shadow in the bedroom

Older person

Man or woman

sits

silently

Waiting.

The leaves are bare

How long do his dreams last as he, Tightly tucked away survives the winter?

In the darkness we wait.

I have a patient Who cannot read or write. I have not yet Determined the reasons why; Whether circumstance situation or something else. Nevertheless, He struggles with many activities that you or I would find Straightforward. When I was explaining to him the other day About the dosing of Paracetamol, I realisedContinue reading “In the darkness we wait.”

Dementia

I have been asked to write the outline of a chapter for a book about dementia from a doctor’s perspective. I am struggling. here are my thoughts… * I have lost my Hearing aids & specs & my dentures are gone. * I feel low. Trapped; The doors you see, are locked. * The carerContinue reading “Dementia”

Hey folks.

Hey folks, Nothing, Really matters NOW Except Coming Together And self-determining. All Else Is Naught. Fight!

Canary in the mine

The Canary Has all but Died. Given up the ghost. Called time on the miners. The children of the miners. This, the next step in the rape of society. Mrs T, 40 years ago Ended our communities and only now have people realised what was lost and are working to re-establish. Today, MrContinue reading “Canary in the mine”

My catty dog.

It has only been

Since our recent

House-guest, a dogs-dog, you might call him –

A man’s dog

Came to visit

At Newgrange

At Newgrange I felt drawn back to the scene at the end of Stig of the Dump. The one on mid-summers’ eve with the ancients dancing. It was hypnotic to gaze at the zig-zags and spirals in the stone. Etched some five-thousand years ago by an early Irish artist. Potentially off their headContinue reading “At Newgrange”

Religion/opiate/masses

This will be short. Only a few lines are required. Marx underestimated the powers of religion. He didn’t perceive Netflix Amazon Love Island And PS4. All too occupied with Android, iPhones Or potential harm Of 5G To notice the mismanagement Of our society (UK) And Our Planet (Gaia).

Heron – wet july morning.

I surprised a heron this morning. All gangly Feathers And feet And too-long wings. hobgoblin Crossed with aesthete, It flapped Stiff wings and escaped.

inwards

I sit on the veranda, Un-noticed. Adults are awake, admiring the dark water. No one looks up. A child, five or six, would see me, older folk are mostly fixed on the ground, watching for hazards, lost in thought, Inside their heads; Not where the beauty is revealed.

the sea

Sitting, waterfront veranda over the Sea of Galilee, called Lake Tiberias, Ha-Kineret in Hebrew or Bahr Aljalil in Arabic; I hear wood pigeon and sparrows. A generator in the background mostly slips away as I stop listening to its drone; the sea is calm. The water, a black mirror reflecting a rising sun, which itselfContinue reading “the sea”

Wild Garlic associations

I walked through a wood today and tasted wild garlic tangy rich; It made me feel connected. Wild Garlic Has the Latin name Allium ursinum. Allium as it belongs to the onion family and Ursinum, as it is believed that once when bears wandered Europe They would dig for the roots. OneContinue reading “Wild Garlic associations”

The Sound of the Sea

What do your senses tell you?

This morning

This morning Kingfisher Was Accompanied By Wagtail; Yellow, they Darted From the stream.

Seven am

We talk of the

War Horse

Who lives

Along the way.

Bells

She is a woman with bells on her bag.

Kingfisher

I saw Kingfisher this morning

Concessions

If you cut away the edges; If you Plane The roughness, Eventually, You are left With something That everyone Will Accept.

How do you kill an idea?

How do you

Stifle

creativity?

Outliers

in old, broken bed; there is a tired man. Fearful. Sticky glue-eye sagging; wrinkled skin w/ faded bruises and scratches, glossy puckers. The human response to uncertainty is mysterious.

In the moment, walk into town.

The streets Are scattered With Lost And forgotten Bits and bobs. Here An old woman’s Winter hat, There, a bone china jug. It is early in the year And the Trees Are still bare. The dead Squirrel Has been removed And the cars glide Unerringly towards Town. Cigarette packets, Old milkContinue reading “In the moment, walk into town.”

Delete, delete, undo.

I suspect what would render is a generic me.

Aspirin rather and Anadin.

Lacking colour, texture and detail.

precarious

your being-ness will

delete,

invert,

and,

In your place

another.

Dog (in winter)

He was solid, tall,

wearing an orange jumpsuit.

now

The past is the past

It is gone

And

I am left

With

now.

Re-learn

I am almost

seven

different people from who I was

Then.

When, did I become a man?

I am nowhere a man,

Not a mensch,

How do you think it went?

But,

Underneath,

What about the feelings?

Those don’t concern me.

Visible

Today I learned a sad fact, I should Have been aware Already, Perhaps Indeed It was one of those things I had chosen to forget. It was about the eyes. Visit to the optician. I like the bright, My son the dark. ‘Ah, that is your age,’ Says the guy. Continue reading “Visible”

Gum and Gods

Gum Stuck To my shoe Or bottom. I walk around before realising That the Tackiness Is actually Chewing Gum. Spat out Or Left behind By somebody. And now attached to me. I can’t remember the last time I experienced this; Whether fewer people are chewing Or I am less exposed, IContinue reading “Gum and Gods”

It’s not just old people, geriatrics, tzokrochen…

Waiting for nurse.

Fear of asking for nurse.

Fear of fear of asking for nurse.

The sound of the cistern is scary.

Would smoke

One Lambert & Butler after another

On their phones

Those Angry Young Men, one day they’ll learn, they will eventually see the light and become more like me – they will die a little inside;

What affected me most today?

We all live lives of stunning colour,

reality,

w/ vivid, experience.

memento

The dead have no memories for, they are the thoughts of the living; the living, exist momentarily.

Memory

I remember the first time I visited Jerusalem. We entered via the Jaffa gate, my brother and me. He had some business related to psychology, I was just tagging-along. Eged bus, then foot. The spices more a phenomenon than the last time I went. Zaatar. Which is hyssop sprinkled on just-cooked bread. At the timeContinue reading “Memory”

In the midst of Goya’s black paintings I fell In love With the image of the goat And the People Cowering In a circle Reminiscent of The Dybbuk, The Devil Casting shadows, Pretending Enchanting, Ensnaring, Encasing – Smothering. The peasants Demoniacal Passive in their observation, Crooked fantasy; Rosemary’s baby, Polanski And Ira Levin TogetherContinue reading

Goya, lost dog

Head of the dog Lost in his Black period. We all Loved And somehow Understood the symbolism; We got The drowning, The overwhelming beauty the majesty, Of being very, very small On a canvas designed for ever.

Tao

“Into a soul absolutely free from thoughts and emotion, even the tiger finds no room to insert its fierce claws.” You can interpret this as you like. Today, I will take it like this… You could be perfect; a flower, a petal, a sunrise – everything in its allocated position, like soldiers lined-up for report.Continue reading “Tao”

Agus dei

A moment in Madrid Pedro Rudolfo Maria Jesuitical monk Prayer gown\ Cassock I stand in the sunshine And appreciate every ray As it falls onto my skin Sparrows are listening And An old man drops A wrapper Dyed black hair Scraped backwards, Glistening In the artificial light Truncheons OldContinue reading “Agus dei”

What makes us human?

And Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

Rag and bone

Alte-zachen They used to shout. It was father and son Who had come across from Qalquilia To facilitate early-days recycling. Ambushing Yiddish And Hebrew, Transmogrified Into Arabic. Their donkey was close to its end; staggering in the heat. Melting Tarmac And Heat haze Wavering. No one was quite sure how toContinue reading “Rag and bone”

Thinking, feeling, disunity.

I won’t expand on the place of introverts and extraverts; I always imagined that computers would prefer peace and quiet to bombast.

Superficial analysis of complexity

It Keeps everyone happy; Like Freewheeling downhill having forgotten your repair kit. Focusing excessively on the details, Holding Too thick a lens up to what is small Can sometimes Slow us down, Keep us back, Postpone the inevitable. I prefer to skip, Skeeter Over the surface; Jittery they call me When things areContinue reading “Superficial analysis of complexity”

How do I put it aside?

My family gathered last night for another season of Strictly. I tried. Honestly. Most years I don’t even join them in the room; Last night I balanced on the settee, albeit with my laptop for comfort and half and half sat through contestants spiralling onto the screen amidst glitz and glamour. Well, the inevitable happened;Continue reading “How do I put it aside?”

Now.

If I have told you once I have told you 106 times. Here, Look at this detail, It is significant! relevant! שים לב Point your heart here. …I know you laugh, You and your crew; Mocking my attention to detail, My scrupulousness, The meticulous aspect of my everyday Life. I am the microcosm Without which NothingContinue reading “Now.”

Countdown…

I remember Sitting On my grandfather’s bed, 43 Newark Drive, as Countdown Played-out on the TV. Channel 4 With Richard Whiteley And Carol Vorderman. He Would rapidly calculate the sums adding, subtracting, timsing and dividing To reach an obscure number; Juggling Letters to arrive at the High-scorer. And, Always, At fourContinue reading “Countdown…”

this is the end

When I was little There was a place on the South Side of Glasgow Where we sometimes went (dad & I) on bleak Sunday mornings, To dispose of items no longer useful or desired. It was ‘The Tip’ A maw. A dark Mechanical Mouth that consumed All. Many years later IContinue reading “this is the end”

Ask not what. (TR4)

And perhaps

A kidnapped

Beauty.

An old dog’s dream (TR2)i

I wake. It is perhaps 130 in the morning; & make my way to the computer. Old, sleeping dog, cataracts, deaf & rheumy joins; she doesn’t stir. I type-out a list of my thoughts, from one, it stretches to three pages of single spacing. It must be her nose thatContinue reading “An old dog’s dream (TR2)i”

Bee

I remember I was Perhaps 14. A dusty pine forest outside Jerusalem. I met a girl With an allergy To bees. She said If she was stung It could kill her. I was stunned By the precarious nature of her existence. Here one moment, Gone the next; And, IContinue reading “Bee”

Give me the energy

Give me the energy to be me When I want to be; Give me the movement And strength When I need it; Give me a hand, Give me a smile. Remember me when you have Moved-on.

Yoda (Yehudit?)

The past and the present are one –

Just, as Kurt says in his great book.

another shaggy dog.

With Tired eyelids I steel myself in the meeting. Challenged to maintain my composure and pretend that I have an interest in the words and numbers And data and anonymous information That I know is important to the machinations of health and care and society but which Pass me by; Like a child withoutContinue reading “another shaggy dog.”

Diabetes and depression

One too many bowls of pasta or pints of beer is a thing. We are not talking good or bad.

Over-sensitivity to noise, pressure, change or criticism is also a thing. It just is.

The fat pigeon

P the fat pigeon nibbles grain. quasi-chaff intended for the sparrows.

IN the night

In your sleep When vulnerable And fighting Yogurt demons, I creep to your door and Gently Turn the handle. I don’t do anything more than look, Than watch In your innocence; It amazes me how beautiful An individual When unconscious. All the horror anger noise And shouting Is gone; On hold. Suspended. And,Continue reading “IN the night”

Eve

It is the big night. Haggis hot neaps and tatties all prepared. Adequate single malt. 1970’s middle-class, middle-age, middle of the road affluence. Stands prepared memorised the words Rabbi* Burns Toast to the… Mind-block is fascinating. One moment all is ready, the next, nothing. I remember a similarContinue reading “Eve”

Massacre

We find our way down the cliff, Past Asters And sphagnum, Heather And clover; A muddy track Provides the route. Over style, Past kissing gate, We don’t pause. And the cave mouth, Distorted; a painful yawn, Dripping with hillside water We crawl through. Into the cold and wet and dark. Continue reading “Massacre”