'Flash' writing anthology about chronic pain - submissions welcome!
Four walls, Four walls and me, Four walls a fistful of pills and me, Silence Surrounded by silence, The silence that reminds me me myself and I. Except you, You’re never silent, The voice that never stops, The endless alarm that disturbs my slumber, You rattle round my brain in whispers and shouts until I […]
I sit in my place—the patient’s chair—prepared to be a partner in my care. I’ve brought an expanding bible of medical tests and consultant notes, a list of medications and interventions, including what has worked and what hasn’t, and a diary of symptoms I now describe with familiarity. Muscles spasm in my core when I […]
body hangs off me like a scab, torture-punished brain a scared little animal peering out of skull, rats gnaw at the base of psyche, lick rusty razor blade, electric flame slice belly, fiery metal spears dangle from gut, The great beast paws idly at my entrails, sparking shark teeth chew slowly up leg, thrust scorching […]
We pay the cable from the reel in staggers, jerk the squiggly line between the bushes, wake the minor aches, the none too vicious graters in the knee that love to grab us. Nothing lightweight in the gear for this one: the Black and Decker like a struggling toddler; the squeaky derricks of our legs […]
Work as hard as you can for as long as you can Then you’re ill can’t work can’t walk can’t bear talk or remember how no pain felt can count on the hand you can’t lift your friends and family can’t work or provide can’t afford pride or holidays you manage Christmas, on plastic can’t […]
M.E. destroys one life and ruins more. Fatigue replaces rage. Accept it. by Linda Cosgriff Author website United Kingdom
A man is ill. Whispered recollections of what he once was are all that sustain him. He has no hope. His aching visions of what should have been kill comfort. What could have been is a lie. He has no hope. He has no future. He has only now. Life took revenge for a life […]
Pain stitched into each joint, he withers and fades. A mutilated life. by Linda Cosgriff Author website United Kingdom
If pleasure is the absence of pain, then pain comes first. In the planter outside my front door, a wren’s nest whorls down to darkness. The nestlings chirr when I pass by, or when the wind’s fingers brush too close, as if the wind and I are mothers, returning with meat, as if refreshed sensation […]
After struggling with ear problems all my life and having two surgeries for Cholesteatoma in 2008 and 2015, a recent flare up has caused months of pain that is unexplained and has baffled my consultants. Having this on top of my original ear problems and cluster headaches sometimes the pain can make days difficult. This […]