LPiA-22 Nov. 15

[Tiger the Lion]

Let's Pretend it's April - Nov. 15


Rules: Write a poem for LPiA on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for the month of November. 

Topic : Write a poem inspired by a rare disease or condition-- even if not so rare.
Form : Any
Line requirements: 8 or more
Feel free to reply with comments or kudos as you wish. 

Questions?

[CRNDLSM]

.
                    The things      we take for
                  granted,  mandelbrot           from
               Rorschach splashes                 birth
            decorating your contours.
              each pivot reveals a new map
                to explore,    if your wilderness 
                   allows.       Who can measure 
                 the courage      required to turn
                the childhood shame    into
             pride you no longer hide   or conceal
            If beauty could     be measured
          strength     in       patterns      gifted

[Semicircle]

Soulmate

The only way you could tell
is if you had it too,
and together,
we'd burn down
twice as fast--

lost causes buck hard
underwater.

(I'm counting the title as a line because I'm not sure what else to add)

[Mark A Becker]

The Doctor tried
exploding pills,
but my mind
may never be
broken out of.

He's writing a book now
about how smart he is.
I'm waiting for you
to hear the phone ring...

if you answer it, I'll sing.

[TranquillityBase]

The Doctor tried
exploding pills,
but my mind
may never be
broken out of.

He's writing a book now
about how smart he is.
I'm waiting for you
to hear the phone ring...

if you answer it, I'll sing.

Cool one, Mark 

---

Old age is surely a disease
but time reversed
would be just as intolerable,
to slowly lose 
what little wisdom I’ve gained
to be replaced by the horrors
of innocence,
until I became little more
than a germ and then
split in two.

[dukealien]

Unwilled


One would not wish to have, I think,
a fighter pilot with Tourette’s
or anyone whose job is pressing
buttons, switches, critical touchpads–
or triggers, certainly.
Compared to their common, tiny but
seemingly impromptu twitches,
occasional or constant
verbal obscenities
scarcely signify.

[RiverNotch]

Against False Dichotomies


There's two kinds of neural tube defect
caused by the lack of folic acid
in a mother's diet, or else by failure
of an embryo's cilia to transport

the relevant nutrient
to where it's needed. First,
and most common, Spina Bifida,
where the tissue around or of the lower spine

is not entirely closed by vertebrae
and may even bulge out like a zit.
Worse still is when it's that other mass
of central nervous tissue left exposed

and through the natural currents of the womb
the regions of the brain responsible
for memory, thought, and sensation
are sloughed off like a bit

of dandruff. This condition,
Anencephaly, is almost always fatal,
although there are those occasions where the child
is born breathing, crying, seeking out

its mother's touch, its mother's milk, and only
after a number of days does its soul
realize its place in the body
is worse than a prison, there are

no doors nor windows, so the heart
spontaneously stops.
The child dies. At no point would the mother
think she just lost a mere mass of cells

or some kind of parasite -- she lost
a child -- and yet
to subject her to the sight
of exposed brains, of a skull

less than half the proper size,
of a struggle for breath for which
the only miracle
is a death by hours, not days---

If all this was brought about
by our sinful nature, then
what use have we for your
misguided condemnation?