Casino Vibes

28 Mar

It’s the extreme emotions

I was and still am

Addicted to

The euphoria when you

Win

And your chips are high

The depths of despair

When you lose

And your chips

Disappear

I still gamble

Black Jack

I’ve always loved cards

The skill

The pace

I did have a pathological

gambling addiction

But that was due to the

medication Abilify

and its lie

It was meant to help me

Not affecting my weight as

much as the others

But it caused mayhem

As well as pathological gambling

Promiscuity and compulsive

Overspending

I was £28K in debt

I needed help

Big time

But now I’m not on Abilify

I went back to Casino Empire

With my discipline

On Latuda now

Which causes weight gain

But apart from that

It’s a good medication

So I gamble

Responsibly, carefully

I don’t chase my money

And with skill and luck

I win

Without pain

There’s no gain

With loss

Take the toss

I watch the guys play

with their chips

On roulette, we have a

Strategy

28 Black, 8 and 18

But cards and numbers

aren’t that simple

There’s a complexity to them

But if you’ve read my

Blog

You’ll know about my 100%

Maths exam

When I did an Access

Course to Medicine

There’s a rhythm to the

cards

Sometimes I just go to

casinos to watch, not to

play

They’re fascinating and

also tragic dens

But through the lens

You can see their stories

Why they’re there

All for a different reason

I have been to GA

Gambler’s Anonymous

Back in the day

When I joined SENSE

And self excluded

There’s something about

The wiring of their brains

that I empathise with

It also intrigues me

A different energy to the

NA rooms

So,,,,

You can lose your job

Your home

Your wife

Your life

The stories I’ve heard

I’ll never forget

I carry them with me

So I’ll never be in debt

Platonic Love

28 Mar

The energy of the spirits around me

I can sense you

Through the sound of your hands

Moving magnificently

Across your keys

Tinkling finger tips

These celibate moments

With my white scarf

Covering my eyes

Howling at the moon

For you

My dear Bear

As you progress

Through this last

Withdrawal

Of poisoned

Man-made tincture

Don’t forget

Why I found you

There in the garden

Reciting Shakespeare’s

Poetic Lines

Reeling them off

From your powerful memory

I found myself falling

and said

‘I can see

how someone could

fall in love with you’

Not realising

I was transcending time

Distracted by spirits

From past

And future

Whispering wisdom

And forgotten scriptures

A modern diagnosis

of ADHD

Where it takes me

Everywhere, anywhere

Always finding it hard

To keep my feet on

The ground

That trumpet

Haunts me

Alas

The pain of Sala

Reminds me of

Galloping across the desert

In my turban

And lithe

Feminine but

Masculine physique

Persia

Why do you keep

Bringing me back to that life?

Endless Arabian sand

The hidden corridors

of that Palace

I remember so well

So as I move my hands

Through the ocean

of Time

Reminiscing

My movement

And all only their

Eyes

Visible to me

Masks of metal

Intricate detail

Hand sewn

Keeping it a secret

As to who I am

So back to now

This celibacy

Has me travelling

Astrally

Through the windows

of this universe

Across another

Far off galaxy

The dawn of truth

Mirrors Mercury

Winding down the visceral

Visions

of Today

Do you remember tomorrow

like yesterday?

I see you suspended

In opal blue

Drumming in your

Twenties

Through the years

At Guildhall

Your entire life

And lives

Pass before me

Telling me your truth

The answers are always

Written in your hands

With the Gods

Aphrodite

Channelling energy

From frenetic youth

There’s proof

In your moonlit soul

Passing the plectrum

Of guitar strings

Back to your wrists

and knees

Healing

For you to tap that pedal

And shake your percussion

Instruments

Do you know how quick

a drummer’s brain is?

Doing multiple movements

all at once

Calming your nervous system

To peaceful equilibrium

Rare

21 Feb

That raw emotive scream

When you enter this world

Transfixed with purpose

What you chose to come back for

Guiding lights from forgotten stars

Hidden messages fading into the universe

Focusing on a script instead of the book

Never ending words on a page

Glistening from the eagle’s eye

I’ve travelled through worlds

Across glaciers and mountains

Swam through oceans

Run across rivers

Spirits’ light year stands still

Peacefully

Whispering echoes

Wisdom from the elders

Golden scriptures written in the air

From stone to plant to finger tips

Preaching proverbial passages

Laterally mimicking each time zone

For when there is only now

Not then and not tomorrow

You see it all

Transfixed by every combination

Pink sky and transcendent lightning

Travelling through

The rarest fire rainbow

Phenomenal luminous colours

From mother nature’s twinkling web

There’s a delicate code

Fibonacci’s sequence

In numerology and ancient astrology

Mythology theology

And prophecy

Sacred philosophy

Finding my feet on sand to grass to mud

Suffocated by oil

And polluted waters

Endless man made plastic

Streaming sentences

Across a dead machine

Bring back the beating of those drums

Dancing across frets

A plectrum strikes the strings

From catgut to nylon

Guttern to vihuela

The mysticism of psychic gifts

Telekinesis

Biokinesis

Elekectrokinesis

Has me thinking

About what’s to come

Soon

Lay low

Lie still

Chill out

Sleep

You’re ready

It’s written on my Sanskrit bracelet

The truth is so old

It’s bold

Be brave

Live to Dream, Dream to Live

20 Feb

I was born 30th September 1983

I’ve dreamed to dance

Dreamed to act

Dreamed to sing

Dreamed to write

Dreamed to film

Dreamed to run

Dreamed to win

You asked me to perform

Something I don’t take light

Needing to learn my lines off by heart

And deliver with ease

Poetic performance

So here’s my life simply

I was born and schooled with privilege

Got diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder at 17

My life changed

Friends fade

Learnt who my real friends were

Got a secretarial diploma

Worked in property

Spent my twenties in NHS psychiatric wards

Being sectioned

Taking them to tribunal

Winning each case

Studied advanced personal training, nutrition, obesity, pre and post natal, arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, Swedish body massage, sports massage and injury

Worked in a gym

Studied to be a doctor

Got 100% in my maths exam

It was the 2008 recession

I quit after a year

Working for a commercial real estate company

Helped out bands

Made a few plans

Worked for a Private Equity firm

Learnt what was private and understood why

Broke down in 2017

Exhausted

Pinned down

Injected again

Missed my brother’s wedding

We’re super close

Him and me

Met my boyfriend of 5 years

He has disabilities

There are struggles

But there is joy and love

Worked in retail

Learnt why I never wanted to be involved in the retail industry

Unless it was ethical, fair, sustainable

The consumerism, amount of clothes and pace of new lines concerned me

The plastic packaging destroyed me

I left

I’m now a part-time nanny

I work with Jazzi Sirius

Who I think is rare, beautiful, unique and talented

Above all empathetic

I feel protective

I have my low phases and high phases

Schizoaffective Disorder is part Bi Polar part Schizophrenia

You want to talk about mental health

There needs to be more focus on severe mental illness

Forget the stigma

I get why it’s there

We fear what we don’t understand

But I’m not afraid

It takes a lot to scare me

I think about people without running water

People who pick tea

And the coke trail cost of life

I think about the climate crisis

Greta Thunberg is my hero

I also like Amal Clooney’s work in human rights

This is more like prose than poetry

But if I’m gonna be a headline act

I need to be honest and open

Cards on the table

I’ve had a pathological gambling addiction, promiscuity and compulsive overspending on one medication

Weight gain on every other

I’ve had sexual dysfunction

I’ve never taken anti depressants

Medication should be your last resort

The system’s broken

I have many friends with severe mental health conditions

Personality disorders are a separate entity but they need help too

There’s no time for discrimination

Black lives do matter

The dairy industry can cause huge suffering

When I go into a supermarket I get overwhelmed

Thinking of every human worker

Primary, secondary and tertiary industry

Religious delusion is common in psychosis

So is grandiosity

Understanding leads to acceptance

I don’t let my diagnosis define me

It helps others more than me

I’ve been writing my life story since I was 17

I’m now 39

My dream is to make it into a film

I have ADHD

It affects us all differently

I have comprehension dyslexia

I run, I play tennis, I am captain of my hockey team

My family mean everything to me

I don’t underestimate their support

I see and know others from broken homes

I believe it starts before conception

I have no children for reasons mentioned above

But I love children

I think there are too many of us

But I think Mother Nature always finds a way

I don’t think it will be easy but we’re in this together

And if we’re on the same page

I’ve got your back

If I learnt this off by heart

And didn’t forget my lines

Maybe there’s hope for my damaged brain

Memory’s a muscle

I can be lazy

I’m in awe of dancers

I was told I was a Russian Prima Ballerina in a past life

I remember spinning on stage

I have an affinity with certain classical music pieces I remember dancing to

A nurse in the Second World War

An effeminate Persian masked prince

Who kept his identity a secret while dancing

And would gallop across the desert

I get visions from my past lives

Going all the way back

I’m open to your views and opinions

Easily swayed

I have innate confidence

My self esteem needs work

I find it hard to let go from people I shouldn’t have in my life

I’m not married

Freedom and peace are two of the most important things to me

My favourite things in the world are sleep, dancing, travelling in many senses of the word and sex

So there we have it

Stream of consciousness

I wrote this in 10 minutes

At 04:49 on 17th December 2022

For tonight

I’ll put it on http://www.palice.org tomorrow

Dream to Live, Live to Dream

Peace out dudes ✌️

The Persian Forest’s River

8 Feb

There’s this river of sound

Running through my veins

A cataclysmic energy

A raging violent volcano

Causing a mega tsunami

Of tainted emotion

My silhouette of songs

From the golden era of

Rock ‘n’ Roll

Cascading colours across the stage

Emblazoning technicolour strobe lights

Luminous and silver costumes

And music videos transcending

Time

Eclipsing the paralleled universes

As time reminisces

This ancient Persian masked dance

Where it takes me back

To galloping across the strains of sand

Hiding from the moonlit palace

The stars whisper their scriptures

Along forgotten corridors

Stored in ancient galaxies

I can feel your hands

In a forgotten era

Of woodland and windy trees

I don’t need to be standing beside you

To sense your sacred soul

Splitting lateral to fragmented seconds

Evolutionising from ape

To caveman

To warrior

Bring it back Poseidon

With your gigantic trident

Aphrodite’s sprinting

Through the chariots of

Rhythm

Why so many souls and

So many lives

To bring me back round

Here again

Longing for that one friend’s

Forgiveness

Stride on through Mercury’s

Pace

And Jupiter’s power

To soldier this process

Sing from my soul

Without the strength of the drums

I’d be lost

In the oracle

Of the oceanic ethereal dream

Infinite Love

3 Feb

Those feelings last night

Of endless flowing waterfalls

Full of love and tantric energy

A schism, endless prism

Of the vortex of many souls

Yes there is one

But I never see him

Have never held him

Or kissed those lips

But the Gods and the universe

Know this story so well

This fable is so old

So many lives have gone by

Knowing this one

Is it madness?

It doesn’t feel like it

It feels like heaven

Pure truth

So to the next chapter

Of not knowing if we’ll

Ever meet again

I’m gonna perform

In these luminous trainers

Wearing black

And silver jewellery

Reciting these words from heart

Playing my part

Surrounded by the love

And lack of judgement

From fellow poets, musicians and artists

From gig to gig

Working on my craft

Honing those vocal notes

Practising the strings

Tinkling the keys

Therein lies the magic

And my purpose

Thank you Jazzi, Alia, Mia and T./MO

For the encouragement

And wisdom

To keep going

Progress

I know this journey is my purpose

With sisterhood and brotherhood

Listening to his sound

Helps the words flow

But we gotta go

Keep running

Up that hill

Climbing Lion’s Head

To me, you’ll never be dead

With a responsibility

I don’t take light

A fear that causes

Me fright

Heads up

Looking into your eyes

The sea of souls

We’re in this together

And forever

We’re whole

Slithers of Prophecy

8 Nov

Psychotic visions of a world yet to come

Greed, rage and anger, damage undone

You tore me from the vast open sky

Did I choose to surrender and cease to fly

How much time are you wasting?

A lifespan of fragmented dreams

Tasting

A voice that is yet to sing

A stage that is yet to grace and bring

Tears from a broken chalice

Snakes and spiders roam free

In the evil future of this broke down palace

The visions I had were of nature vs machine

Science taking over palm fortune

It isn’t the answer

Supreme

River was all in my mind

Yet why was it so real and where did it come from?

The images, stolen from the translucent stars

Changing colours resembling the rainbow’s mask

Metaphorical wonder of spoken word

The poet’s dance finds her feet

On points solely spinning in flight

From lives of past and future all now

Preaching wisdom in an ocean of plastic

To think a generation are here

To save the zillions of grains strewn across the beach

I’ve mirrored my life through doors of galaxies

Chiselling wood and forgotten fantasies

I’m bouncing on a diving board

Yet to dive in

Not knowing if I’ll ever touch the water

Full of sin

Or is it?

Maybe it’s pure tranquility and bliss

A tornado of hard work and failure

Only to keep swimming

And rise from the ashes

The Phoenix flies through every spirit

And object known to man

Luminous crystal echoing through quartz

I know my purpose but I always run

The damage of drugs to my fractured brain

It’s not enough anymore to go insane

Roam the universe and find your astral rhythm

It’s a prism in a vortex kaleidoscope

A paradise floating naked in water

With waterfalls, gorillas and butterflies

Treasures amongst oceans’ forest

What will it take

To focus your mind

Away from the socials

And bias propaganda

Go your own way and find your beam

Gymnastic perfectionism

Your later life’s dream

Paper Thin Chains

22 Sep

You come back into my life like a fire ball

I thought you were long gone

I’m not going to allow you to let me fall

There’s a world mourning

All for a different reason

Iranian women burning their hijabs

What has been committed is pure treason

Schisms of broken glass

Women’s emotions lying dead in the grass

Picking up the pieces from the mirror you broke

Taking their fragile feelings

A chaotic woven mess of all your dealings

Playing them like a game of chess

You create a wrath in me I confess

How does it truly feel to be you?

Full of lies, drugs, booze and what you do

You’ve created your bed of broken states

You wonder why you’re surrounded by a world full of hates

Black man got shot for no crime

Why don’t psychopaths and narcissists do some time?

I can walk away like I did before

Leave all their tears and fears scattered across the floor

How dare you treat someone like that?

Manipulation, dedication to yourself

Leaving all your perpetual success on the shelf

Unless it benefits you, you’re not interested in the cause

Made me feel like I was your girl

But really there were many

And it was just your wanted fame that had you counting every penny

I cared about what happened to you

Burning every bridge that was carefully built

Every special relationship like a hand sewn quilt

You’re welcome to your nest of sting

You have so much potential

And we all know what that could bring

Cut me down, bleed the pain

I’m always stronger for it

I’ll rise again and refrain

From saying anything to ruin your song

Put it into rhyme, chime, dime, mime

The list is monumentally sacred and long

And you know I’ve done the work and the never ending time

Leave this history where it’s supposed to be

Focus on myself for once and let you all fly free

I thought I’d found someone new

You know I’m honest so you know it’s true

Yes there was a song but I thought that’s all it was

Didn’t realise there was so much more because

We’re back round here again

Like a decade ago, you all put me through hell

Not wanting to remember or even tell

But it’s a choice what we do and what we leave

I thought that chapter was over

Let me breathe

You didn’t want to be friends and I was fine with that

People like you move on easily

Fact

It’s written in your type

The one you’re treating badly

Is the one who has all the hype

Talent, skill, empathy and good will

Leave them alone or be a man until

You can behave well and look after someone

Learn how to love and what love really is

Do some work in that area

Then your world and ours might be a little fairer

Luminous Rainbow 🌈 Twenties

14 Aug

In the recession it was hard to find a job

So with my qualification

I’d got in a St James’ Secretarial College course

Whilst at the property company

I put my head down with pure dedication

My friend Harry helped me find a job

For a commercial real estate company

I was kind of broken from that fourth admission

Just to set the scene

What was coming and where I’d been

And so to the next chapter and all that entailed

Before I totally and utterly derailed

I was helping out the band Leika

In my free time

Taking photos

Going to gigs and learning the industry

I attended a friend’s engagement party

At a bar called Jerusalem in London

I went into the restaurant and saw

This Union Jack bandana

Hanging from a microphone

Facing me raw

I went to the party

The conversation was ring arty

But my attention was needed elsewhere

I went downstairs

To listen to the musicians play

And saw what that bandana had in store

I wasn’t quite sure at the time

What it was for

A guy named Longy playing the guitar

A trumpet player who played

With beauty and flair

I listened and I searched and looked into the music

I couldn’t walk away from this talent I heard

Something in the voice, the lyrics

I felt like a bird

For they challenged me

And questioned everything I was doing

‘Walk with Fire’

Oh so dire

Trying to understand the code to this guy’s song

It felt like a lifetime

A journey so long

So I stayed with them all night

Joking and fooling around

Going from bar to bar

Was this the band I’d been searching for?

Could I help them?

Literally no one had been listening

In the crowd but me

Could I get them their platform?

Where they deserved to be

The industry was in such a state

An unfair mess

I needed to do something

Creatively I must confess

My job was dull, corporate and dry

These boys had energy

Permission to try

So I followed him to his next two gigs

Ran up to the guy

And said maybe I can help

He brought me in

And a working relationship began

Up at the crack of dawn

Flying off emails

PA PALICE

Was born

It was a nickname I’d had for many a year

My brother first said it to me

So I held it close without fear

There was Longy, Feral Child, Morley, Jimmy Gunn, Palice and Glassman

Everyone had their name

Steal eyed focus

On the A game

I worked and I slept

And got them interviews

Radio plays

And then to the confidential excel spreadsheet

My friend in PR knew the value

I knew the beat

It was a golden briefcase

An envelope to everything

What we’d been needing

While Longy was bleeding

What came next will go down in the history books

It was 2014 and we had our eyes on Glastonbury

For the receivers and the press

Underestimated us even less

Who was to headline

That main stage festival?

Was it Longy? Who was to know

The articles were written

And yes he got to play there

Even supported The Who later

I was part of a team

Fulfilling someone else’s dream

But it gave me a purpose

A mission I was proud of

They now had a crowd

So I took a step back

For what they didn’t know

What I wasn’t allowed

I didn’t tell them my past

Why should they know?

Mire their focus

Lose sight and go

I started to gamble

I was noticing a change

Promiscuous, compulsive over spending

My brain didn’t feel right

I was getting provocative and angry

Losing my shit

The next thing that happened

Basically I behaved like a total tit

I didn’t feel respected or appreciated for my work

Glassman behaved like a total jerk

In fact, that behaviour came later

Give credit where credit’s due

He put a huge amount into that band

An interesting mind

Full of ideas

He certainly took the time

Ideas flying around Nando’s

And a boardroom meeting

At the company’s I was working for

The room had never been put

To such good use

We used the white board

And bounced the ideas around

It was magic

The fact it fell apart

To be honest, in hindsight

Was tragic

It was a great band but mistakes were made

Losing professionalism at certain opportunities

That came about

They had their own way of doing things

I didn’t agree

But being female

I kept my mouth shut

And decided to flee

Things got too much

My money was black jacked away

Longy’ll be fine

I knew he’d be ok

But I knew I needed to research

And find out the truth about Abilify

Why I was losing my way

The evidence was there

Written all over the web

Pathological gambling for people

Who’d never gambled before

Impulsive behaviour, promiscuity, overspending

I couldn’t believe the money I was lending

To all these casinos

And for all my woes

My instincts were right

In that acidic Abilify

The pharmaceutical giants had failed again

And continued to lie

Billion dollar law suits in the States

I needed help massively

But what to do?

I knew from my past

But this private psychiatrist

Hadn’t a clue

I saw him on my private medical insurance

At my new job

I was now an Executive Assistant

For a global private equity firm

They had no idea

I was just researching

There to learn

The companies behind their private projects

The ones that made Olanzapine

And the rest

I knew that I could be my best

So to be honest I just put them to the test

Got my head down

Put the hours in

At night, I would gamble

But eventually my psychiatrist hard stopped Abilify

He researched the drug

Found the evidence in the psychiatric journal

And so quickly the symptoms went away

No more gambling, compulsive over spending or impulsivity

No longer needing to stray

I requested no more anti psychotics

My brain was fried

I was angry and furious

But boy had I tried

He put me on Lamotrigine

A mood stabiliser

A drug supreme

Apparently so but not for me

My mood went up, down and side ways

At every hour I needed to flee

It doesn’t affect your weight

So I was sold

But fuck this story just gets boring and old

Due to hard stopping the meds

I was in hospital again

My fifth admission

Much more than a mission

It was just before Christmas in 2016

This time I was in the Priory in Bromley

A private hospital, I’d never been

Dr Hindler didn’t do what the other doctors had done

Inject me or dose me with what I truly hated

He gave me Lorazepam and I slept

Morning, midday, afternoon and night

For a week no less

I’d worked to the bone

This private equity firm had no idea about why I was there

I mean in the company

Learning what wasn’t fair

I left that hospital only after two weeks

I went back to my flat

And knew I wasn’t right yet

But that’s all the private medical insurance

Would cover

Tell one another

Another sorry mess

For they never cover what you confess

So what’s the bloody point

To any of this insurance at all

You can’t get the help

Even when you know you may fall

I was better by Christmas

But it wasn’t the end

I met a guy

We fell for each other

In a sexual way

I was all over the place

Having hard stopped the meds

He didn’t know what had hit him

Three months and it was over

Just before we broke up I met a girl in Malta

Used my gift to hear the spirits

And passed on a vital message

Forgot all about her and enjoyed the holiday

Until I saw her at the cafe

On my last day

‘You saved my life you know that day

I was gonna put rocks in my pockets

And jump off the cliff

No longer wanting to stay

What you said to me passed on from the other side

Made me realise I didn’t need to die

Or even fly

I can stay here and find my daughter

Thank you so much’

She put her hand to mine with a gentle touch

I knew I had a gift

I’d known for a while

But I tend to block it out

Not get distracted in life

They’re only over the rainbow

And I didn’t want it to cause me strife

The stress of the work

And the effect of Lamotrigine

Was making me sick

I quit my job quick

In such a unique way

Completely going mad

I knew I need not stay

So within a weekend

And a lot of trauma my brother saw

For the first time

I could see it in his eyes

It hit me to the core

2017 admission was the longest one yet

First failed tribunal

They learnt why I needed to win

So they kept me on Lamotrigine

And no anti psychotic

I got so damn ill

I left my body

They couldn’t find my pulse

I knew I had gone

How could I really explain it to them

What they hadn’t been taught

An out of body experience

Of course they wouldn’t know

So guess what happens next

They ask if I’ll take the drugs

I say no

But where they failed to go

Is tell me they’ll inject me

If I don’t take their drugs

A vital mistake

For what they truly take

Is part of your soul

When they inject you again

This time Paliperidol

And it took its toll

What I haven’t told you yet

Is that I would sing through every admission

The corridors had an echo

They would carry my voice

And I’d write and I’d dream

Writing poetry, prose and songs

Another one published it would seem

It was the worst admission

Because I couldn’t make my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding

No permission

Paliperidol affected my body so badly

Gaining weight

Sexual dysfunction

My prolactin was so high

I wasn’t having a baby

It was only when the GP noticed

That they even made a change

What a system to work with

These pathetic drugs

To me these giants

Were no more than mugs

They might be CEOs or billionaires to you

But to me they’re into making money

Not saving lives

That’s all and it’s true

Controlling a brain that they don’t understand

I left that admission when a patient

Became violent

She thought I was a police officer

And was determined to kill me

On 24 hour watch

She stared at me all day

I left her alone

But it was clear to see

This was all going to end in tears

I’m not one for being a martyr or fears

My mother intervened

And wrote a letter from America

Please send her home

With her father

She’ll be safe there

And well looked after

So I left that sixth admission

And guess what happens next

I met the man who I fell in love with

I’ll put that in the next chapter text

But I’m going to leave this for now

Enjoy my holiday

And wipe my brow

The main thing I haven’t mentioned

Is the overwhelming support from

My close family and friends

Their support never goes unnoticed

And my heart is full of love

They were certainly sent

From up above

What doesn’t kill you

Certainly makes you stronger

Maybe I didn’t feel like keeping it to myself

Any longer

I know due to the system

Not everyone will be fine

I’m interested in your story

This just happens to be mine

The third admission for their commission

11 Aug

So the story goes like this

Anything but tranquility or bliss

I had a third admission

To reference the date

4am 1st February 2008

And met a good friend there

They’d never understand her state

I thought to myself

A spiritual illness

She was jumping souls

Past lives and time

A good friend still now

But to help her

I didn’t know how

Because I knew these doctors

Weren’t schooled in spiritual thought

Their knowledge was limited

Not what they had been taught

I was sectioned for the second time

The only way they could get their drugs into me

But what they had underestimated

And failed to see

Was that I was well educated

And had a sharp mind

I learned the system

The research wasn’t hard to find

I puked up and spat out the Abilify

It tasted acidic but had given it a try

I was told it won’t affect my weight which was important to me

I needed my body, my tool, free to be

My psychiatrist was mean

Howlett, she’s known well

Kept me locked up for almost three months

And put me through hell

Not allowed to run or swim

Or even go outside the ward

An anorexic control freak

It was written on her beak

She tried to hide all her issues

Being the professional

I just wanted to pass her the tissues

I wrote poems about every bird

The sequel to Cats

Inspired by TS Elliot

I wrote to Andrew Lloyd Webber

And got a reply

He was busy with something else

So I put that on the shelf

I won my second free tribunal

With a lawyer who tried to postpone the date

He didn’t have much confidence

But I knew my fate

At 12noon 28th April 2008

I walked out of there

And started to really care

About all who’d come before me

And all who were yet to come

I didn’t want to become a revolving door patient

How was I gonna learn

Find my art, music and writing

I’d never felt such a yearn

So a few months passed

And I decided to get a degree

Medicine no less, I needed to learn their education

Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths

Lambeth College Access to Medicine

September 2008

Get my brain engaged

I was taking Abilify to appease the shrink

But as I started to study

I realised I couldn’t think

I lowered my medication from ten to five milligrams

My boyfriend at the time didn’t really notice a thing

I was going a little faster

But what I needed to bring

From the help of an educational psychologist

Who taught me to study

I have comprehension dyslexia

And had struggled with exams

Getting As and Bs

But less than teachers had expected

I was a scholarship student

And in the first stream for maths

I needed to learn how to pass

And excel with a Distinction

I did just that in every subject

Getting 100% in maths

My tutor gave me an excellent review

My personal statement was controversial

But who knew?

I described the importance of allergies, intolerances and nutrition

Helped save my house lady’s child

From a disastrous allergy to dairy

What I didn’t know and it was in their fruition

They didn’t teach much about food

How could you not study what goes into the body

How useless and basic was every case study

I didn’t hear a thing and my tutor didn’t know why

I waited and waited

Eventually plucking up the courage to ring

Kings College London

What had I done wrong?

Applied to 101 course when I wasn’t allowed to study that extended medical degree

Why had I not done my research

And learned to see

That due to my education which was first class

I was only allowed to do a five year course

The correct code was 100

So what to do now?

Apply for medicine through ‘Extra’

And learn how

But my confidence failed me

And I didn’t think I’d get in

So I applied for Pharmacology

To see what that might bring

The intention was to study that

And move on to Medicine

Then to Research

Having learnt every medication

I applied through ‘Extra’ with fierce

Dedication

I got an Unconditional Offer

Probably due to my tutor’s review

And Distinction

So here’s to Kings and what ensued

September 2009

So you know the time

I was in the lab

Learning chemistry and the rest

I got distracted by hockey playing for every team

I felt like they’d lost track

I was losing my dream

Medicine is not an art

It’s a science

Maybe my brain’s not wired that way

I went to hockey and continued to play

For the 1st’s and the 2nds

Every team when they needed a player

I was a committed sportswoman

And determined to be a stayer

But the amount of time spent on nutrition

It was a joke

I thought to myself

Decided to change courses

To Nutrition or Psychiatric Nursing

It was early 2010

Having just witnessed a recession in full flow

There were medic protests on the go

Due to their underpay

I started to think about my course

If I was to do Pharmacology then Medicine then Research

I’d be £100k in debt

A life full of hospitals

Would I be inept?

And I was losing faith in their medicine

This was not Primum Non Nocere

What I was learning

My story inside me was totally burning

So I left Kings College London

After only a year

And I went to Spain with my niece

And friends of my brother’s

But having hard stopped the 5mg of Abilify

I wasn’t giving myself a chance

I had forgotten the Diazepam

Which helped me sleep

Went three sleepless nights

And started to see double

Played tennis with George

Debated with Zac

Trying to keep it together

How were they to know

I was totally losing track

I got back to London as high as a kite

My mother saw it in my eyes

As she always does

I was determined to go off and see Sophia

But with very little sleep

I was losing my mind

Lack of it affects us in different ways

But if I don’t sleep

My mind will certainly stray

It starts with daydreaming

And then I start to go

Up to the heavens

No longer on earth

My family try to reach me

But I’m not in my body

Once I was catatonic

And I can tell you

It wasn’t funny

So back to Queen Mary’s it was time to go

I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in weeks

Skinny eight stone

I went down on the scales so low

01:47 13th September 2010

My fourth admission

And my third section

How else were they to get their drugs in me

I would simply still never let them

Give them voluntarily to me

So back to the drawing board

What was I to do?

Take them to tribunal

Or commit to Abilify?

I had my reservations

But was willing to give it another try

So I ripped up my section

So they changed it to three

Did I care?

Not at that point

I just returned their stare

Dr Howlett

Academic but limited in thought

My gift taught me she’d passed

But couldn’t see outside the box

She’ll never understand any of us

That’s the key to our locks

You see to understand madness

Takes a certain type of mind

A bit like a method actor

You have to stand right beside

Learn all of their mannerisms

Childhood and genes

There’s a spiritual aspect

Past lives too

But if you don’t believe in those

You only get one life

If you’re one of those

Then don’t just stare down a test tube

With chemicals

Learn from the indigenous

The ancient, the wisdom

The forgotten medicine

You really need to observe and listen

Without judgement

Doctors are taught they’re God’s greatest gifts

But the best ones you’ll find are humble in thought

For the medically unexplained symptoms

What you were not taught

Is where you’ll find the answers to

The body and the mess

The world’s gone insane

Are you surprised

The sensitive have a delicate brain

They’re all different

Unique in every way

But like something I wrote

‘Every Combination’

I was determined to find the answers

Through no less than meditation

Channeling wisdom but still reading books

There are forgotten methods

We learn from one another

Western medicine with all its greatness

Has a lot to improve on

We have a lot to learn and remember

A little humility and thinking outside the box

Will get you a lot further

Than selling lies like Abilifies

I waited out the section

Doing headstands and yoga all the time

Decided to take Abilify

Just so they’d let me out

Went to my friend’s wedding

And put on a pout

Tati and Sophie were there

Having visited me on every admission

True friends are the best and I never forget

Those who followed me or put me on a pedestal

But the ones who are there for you when your chips are down

You’re lying in the gutter

You know who you are

And I’ll stand by you forever

No matter what journey my life takes

I know my true friends

And I know the fakes