Roses are red, violets are blue, here's a poetry thread, from me to you! (TW)

Hehehe ty for the smile @avant-garde you thrifty lil bargain-hunter!! 😁💜

@Jynx @MissGremlin

I'm pretty sure it'll make everyone at peer group next week laugh because they know it's all true!

Ageism isn't just old people

It's the young ones too

The ones where life's been tough

And what they've come through

It's the ones with arthritis

In their early twenties

Because they were abused

With no recovery

The ones with hearing aids

From constant ear infections

Often gone untreated

Until it was too late

It's the ones with dentures

In the middle of their thirties

Their teeth didn't matter

They just got in the way

The people who are told

Of their greater fracture risk

Because they've had many falls

Though they're not the person's fault

The people who assume

You're just the standard human

Saying you can do things

When your body says you can't

You can lift that urn

You can walk that far

You can clean your house

No actually we can't

Because our bodies were mistreated

Made to do what no child should

They show the degradation

Of a childhood with abuse

It is not purely outward

The stress that we lived under

Physiologically we changed

Abuse changed our DNA

It left marks within our bodies

It rewired our brains

Stop assuming our capacities

Ageism goes both ways

@Jynx @MissGremlin

@AlwaysMyself - thanks for the inspiration

@avant-garde oh sweetheart, your words are always so powerful.

Sending you hugs beautiful, you are so brave and strong despite everything you've been through ❤️.

You say it so well @avant-garde !

My heart and hugs go out to you.

I've explained to 2 people this week why I can't just "go for a walk" to exercise to "improve my health". Consecutive days too, no less. Neither of them seemed to understand how this cpuld be the case at my age. But i remind myself - its not my battle to make them understand. I can tell them and leave it at that. They cant/aren't making me do exercise, so i can ignore their incomprehension as long as they can refrain from telling me i "should go for a walk everyday".

just read your two recent poems @avant-garde thank you for sharing, i missed reading your words 💙

@avant-garde I hope one day you publish your work.

This piece especially deserves to be heard.

@avant-garde a poem about writing poems? I can't sleep and my brain just keeps throwing words my way so this is what came out.

I write these words out line by line,

for these thoughts are truly mine.

Reading them back feels unreal,

as it proves the pain inside is real.

I'm not sure why it is I write,

but I guess sometimes it just feels right.

It only comes when things are dark,

no light, no hope, not even a spark.

Getting things out feels like a test,

in hopes that then my thoughts can rest.

So I pick up paper and a pen,

and let the words spill out again.

There's no knowing what will come out,

something dark, without a doubt.

But each word you read comes from within,

from a life that's wearing thin.

Every line must hold a rhyme,

if it doesn't, it feels a crime.

Some lines come easy, without a fight,

others feel like they're out of sight.

My poetry comes from the heart,

it's what sets my thoughts apart.

So every word you read is true,

a fragile world I share with you.

Beneath each word, a secret lies,

a fractured soul, a thousand cries.

So read between the lines, if you dare,

see the shadows, hear the despair.

@ENKELI - the thought of a short series on stigma is what I've been thinking about

@MissGremlin - right with you there, sitting with you sweetling

Yesterday/today's one

Yes the names have been changed

----------

She turned up at craft today
The same old chiro bully
Who sews dissent and chaos
With every word she speaks

That suddenly I couldn't sit there
The same place for all last year
So I can see the exit
So voices can be clear

Suddenly her word was law
And me? I had no say
They don't understand
That my past made me this way

So I left as quickly as I came
I got in my car and I drove away
I can see the smile on her face
Like she's won her little game

What's worse though is that I trusted her
I trusted her with my number
I trusted her with my story
I trusted her with my heart

I'm scared she'll use it against me
That she'll gossip and tell others
Still I blame myself
For trusting another Hagar

Penninah, she is harmless
Just full of opinions and hot air
But Hagar, she has malice
And I'm on the receiving end

One day she saw me shopping
As I drove up to park my car
She stood right in front of me
Screaming that I was trying to hit her

Actually I was just parking
I reversed to then drive forward
Instead of blocking cars
On a one way road

She's repeatedly harassed me
In the street and in my groups
I'm actually really scared of her
And the next thing that she'll do

Thankyou @avant-garde my sweet and I'm sitting with you too sweetheart❤️.

I'm sorry that she broke your trust and for the things she's done sweet. I can hear the fear of what she may do next and i know that must be so hard to sit with. Hugs beautiful ❤️