General

Ten Physical Symptoms

Ten physical symptoms,
But Doc you wrote that my eye make-up was nice,
How thoughtful.
Ten physical symptoms,
But Doc you wrote that my clothes were neat and clean,
How flattering,
Ten physical symptoms,
But Doc you wrote that I was neither delusional nor psychotic,
Wonderful to have the free psychiatric exam,
Ten physical symptoms,
And you found time to write that my sense of humour was off key,
And that I mentioned my Granny growing up in the slums,
That we use humour during times of adversity,
But Doc no doubt you felt the need to pass on this cultural gem to your peers,
God how thoughtful you are,
And though you ignored that I'm so poorly I can only eat about five foods that are easy to digest,
And when I spoke of the seizures six months ago,
So strong I thought I'd die in that hospital,
You asked if there was a witness,
Dear Doctor I failed to ask,
If that witness should be male?
And you failed to notice that my records state my BMI as 24 when it is now close to 19.5,
And you failed to make any record of the ten physical symptoms I wrote for you,
Neither the slim pickings of foods I can digest,
You were kind enough to offer counselling,
To ask if "I felt my guts were rotting inside my body,"
Ah,
The poor woman just needs to talk,
I'm sure she has no intestinal damage,
Women,
God,
Women,
They just need to talk,
Head cases,
All of them,
Thanks male doctor,
Being a woman I of course did not notice the misogyny,
Neither how your difficulty with my culture was turned around and weaponised,
As if it were a character defect to have working class roots,
For the record Doc,
In case it is diagnostic,
It's not just poor Liverpool slum folk in my genes,
It's Cockney and dirt poor Irish too,
Is this all too passive aggressive?
Another woman defect,
Why don't we just say it straight,
Like a bullet pointed typed list of symptoms,
And a list of foods tolerated,
Wait,
Hang on,
I did that already,
Twelve point,
Times New Roman,
Ten physical symptoms

By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, December 21, 2021.