Cheese and Meat get the thumbs up in new studies; Batman shows coconut oil is not poison; High-fat diets benefit cancer treatment; Plus this month’s funnies 😛
via August 2018 News Round-Up — Rosemary Cottage Clinic Blog
Tag: health
Mirror, mirror…
“Mirror is my best friend, because when I cry, it never laughs.” – Sir Charles Chaplin
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” – Camille Pissarro
“If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies how very different our ideals of beauty would be.” – author unknown
“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.”
-Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
*
Mirror, Mirror
I embark on a journey
To find out just who is this person
Buried inside my eyelids
The one who lurks in front of the bathroom mirror
As I blow-dry my hair each morning
She mimics my movements
While I brush my teeth and short reddish hair
Thank you Clariol
Or is she mocking me?
We share a wardrobe
It is debatable whom the clothes fit better
I prefer to think the mirror is the one
Telling the tall tales
A mirror should never be believed
If it were kinder
Perhaps I wouldn’t avoid its glare
*
Bisous,
Léa
Tueur orage
“She’s sociopathic. She will have no moral compunction in doing whatever is in her interests. It’s a simple as that.” – Alexander McCall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club
*
Tueur orage
Yes!
I must say it in French
The words more
Menacing than storm
Killer works either way
She was the darkest of
Une tornade – invisible or hovering
Fierce – ready to strike
Panther-esque
Orage – filled with rage
Her tiny frame
Violent, destructive
Wrecking havoc on
Lives of anyone who
Dared enter her periphery
Eyes of an eagle, tracking
Movements of her prey
Strikes – random,
Frequent, demoralizing
Slicing each victim to
Bone – carcass gleaned
Yet careful to conceal
Her handiwork – life in a
Minefield – can anyone
Call this living?
Husband dies young
She cannot harm him again
Destruction – annihilating
Narcissistic sociopaths – a
Darkness light cannot penetrate
*
Bisous,
Léa
When the eagle lands: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
“History with all her volumes vast, hath but one page.” – Lord Byron
“Is it only in the army in the Philippines that Americans sometimes commit deeds that cause all other Americans to regret?” – Theodore Roosevelt
“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” – Clarence Darrow
When the eagle lands: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
Despite luggage filled
With packages of raisins
Jars of peanut butter
And other edibles as
Directed by Huyen
I felt as the guest who
Shows up for the feast
Empty handed – on arrival
In Da Nang
Despite numerous trips to
Tijuana in my youth
This traveler was not
Prepared for the depth
Of poverty – starvation,
Suffering at every turn
It was easy to spot
Hidden behind toothless grins
The kind gentle hands
Welcoming this foreigner
Whose generous form was
Warmly and securely enveloped in
Skeletal arms – for those still able
Fragile, contorted bodies in
Wheel chairs or makeshift
Gurneys – smile with what is
Left to them – perhaps the light
Radiating from their eyes
Their parents exposed to
Agent orange – a gift
In their own best interest
Bestowed by America,
Monsanto and Dow Chemical
The same Monsanto producing
Between 70% – 100% of all
Genetically Modified seeds
Declare war on life itself
Flashbacks of mutilated bodies
Float into my periphery
As the chemical giants
Tally ill gotten gains – where
Will they strike next?
MARS, GENERAL MILLS,
KRAFT, NESTLE, PEPSICO,
KELLOGG’S, COCA COLA
UNILEVER – make up to
90% of food at your
Neighborhood grocery retailer
Under the auspices of your
Elected officials – whose pockets
Deeply lined from corporate coffers
Sociopath ideology; no empathy, no remorse, no guilt, no shame
The masses complain and complain
Yet fail to alter consumptive practices
One month, we walked the streets
Of Da Nang – handing out sacks of
Rice and other foodstuff
Twelve years later
Yet I still feel like screaming
Alone into my pillow
“Out, damned spot! Out, I say
*
Peace
Léa
Extreme
“I don’t see myself as beautiful, because I can see a lot of flaws. People have really odd opinions. They tell me I’m skinny, as if that’s supposed to make me happy.” Angelina Jolie
Extreme
I’ve often heard
There is no such thing
As too thin
Yet I wonder
Seeing that woman in
The café this morning
Skin stretched tautly
Across a fragile frame
Excruciating exposé
Threatening to shatter
Cheekbones, eye sockets
She turns, tries to
Smile – even the lips
Have no curves
Mediterranean blue eyes
Flicker with a smile
Longing to escape
*
Bisous,
Léa
Impudence to the nth degree
Instead of the usual quote, I give you a list to ponder – Invisible Disabilities:
Back Injury, Brain Injury, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Heart Condition, Muscular Disorders, Neurological Disorders, Seizure Disorders, Spinal Disorders, Bone Disorders, Chronic Injuries, Organ Transplant, Oxygen Impairment, Difficult Pregnancy, Prosthetic, Surgery and several others.
*
Impudence to the nth degree (For Carly Jay and too many others)
*
Pulling into the parking lot
Of the local market
Rushed as oft happens
A young woman parked
A spot reserved for handicapped
*
Indignant you drive in to another spot
Why must you; hipper, prettier, older
Hurried and harried walk so far?
I wouldn’t – who does she think she is?
A spot reserved for handicapped
*
We cannot see her scars
There are no signs alerting us
To the fragile lungs
The crazy quilt torso
A spot reserved for handicapped
*
Self-righteousness and indignation
Spill over when you glance her way
Usually smiling – a grimace shoots
Her way, your eyes like arrows
To that spot reserved for handicap
*
Assuming can handicap
Well hidden – discrimination
On the shaky grounds of assumption
Aggression, exclusion are the daggers
Targeting those with invisible handicap
*
Many disabilities remain shrouded
Independence a fragile line
That spot is reserved for handicap
*
Bisous,
Léa
La pomme
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple is connected with that of man.” – Henry David Thoreau
“With an apple I will astonish Paris.” – Paul Cèzanne
“And there never was an apple, in Adam’s opinion, that wasn’t worth the trouble you got into for eating it.” – Neil Gaiman
***
La pomme
Being the
Brains in
Le jardin
Eve picked
La pomme
Hunger can
Do that to a
Woman
Being that there
Was no health care
Available
She took care of
Herself
Leaving
Adam
To his violent
Abattage
des oiseaux,
Cerf
And all that was
Wild and free
L’ homme
Blâme
Ève
Pourtant le
Sang est sur
Ses mains
Et la femme
Est un avec
La nature
***
Bisous,
Léa
Wounded
“Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.” – John Locke
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” – Dr. Seuss
Wounded
The tiny blonde woman wails like a banshee
Invoking her curse that I not see my children again
Since the Courts ruled she can’t see her children again
Says she will take me out like Rambo
Court orders sever familial ties
As Reunification services are terminated
A three-year-old boy
Whose name she doesn’t remember “You know, the one I hit.”
And social workers are left to assess detriment
For future visits with this parent
There will be no contact
And Jeffery learns he doesn’t have to hide
Each time he hears footsteps
Doesn’t cower at the knock on the door
The door is not after him It won’t slam him down
As when momma calls from the other side
His vocabulary multiplies each day
His now chubby freckled cheeks widen
As a grin spreads across his face
He runs to the waiting arms of his foster mother
Learning to trust – there are no tricks here
No fist hidden behind her back
Waiting to strike out
Like the eerie hissing of the snake
Whose incantations are lifted from my voice mail
Voice printing
As the sheriff’s department collects evidence
My office building covered with her picture
Covered with warnings – Do not approach
Report sightings immediately
She says that it is her daughter that she loves
The one with the heart condition … her name is Brittany
Does she remember?
Does she remember the names of any of the others?
Six others – each who have different homes
In different states across the country
Altered states
Is time healing their wounds? Do the scars show?
The deepest ones rarely do
Thousands of miles from here
Other social workers are dealing with scars
From the tiny blonde woman
Who wails like a banshee
On my voice mail
In their nightmares
In the quiet of my room
Late at night
Back at the office
I hesitate Before answering the phone
At work they tell me to be careful
“Watch your back” “get an escort to your car”
Reassurance that law enforcement is looking
For the tiny blonde woman
Is obtaining a warrant
They lie in wait for her
As she lie in wait for Jeffery
On the other side of the door
As she lies in wait for me
Wailing
This wounded animal
Lies in wait
Waiting to strike
And I wonder about the animal
That wailed lying in wait for her
Ripping its claws deep inside
Shredding her mind, her soul
Wounded, wailing
The tiny blonde woman
Wails and
Waits
Bisous,
Léa
poetry, photos and musings oh my! 