Category Archives: Health and Wellbeing

Limbo

Limbo

Limbo

Right now I find myself in Limbo
Not the Limbo of Roman Catholic Theology
Which is a kind of anti-room to heaven
Where the souls of the un-baptised reside

No, my Limbo is a sort of waiting area
Where, having undergone major surgery
I now wait, hoping for steady recovery
But conscious of an uncertain future

Other medical procedures are scheduled
Each with its own hazards and humiliations
And in Limbo I find myself in greater dependence
On those who so unselfishly tend my fragile frame

Is there a problem with Limbo?
Is uncertainty not to be tolerated?
Well, the answer is – there is no choice
Limbo is a place of waiting – it can be no other

So all I ask is that you bear with me
As I know you have already
Decisive action is not the current mode
Patient reflection the better part

Ken Fisher

Blue Monday

Blue Monday

Blue Monday

16 Jan 2023

 

I certainly never knew
But apparently this Monday is dubbed Blue
Most Mondays are pretty cheerless
But this one is apparently peerless

Some say it’s caused by mood
About today there’s little good
Xmas debts have all piled up
Even leading to marriage bust up

Lawyers welcome a busy day
They never lose, come what may
While the people are mired in misery
They look for cash on delivery

Perhaps it’s caused by our dark weather
Damp and cold, bringing no pleasure
Or perhaps this month brings little joy
No prospect of some exciting ploy

If Monday’s deemed to be so blue
To protect ourselves what can we do?
Cast aside all that would depress
Our happier memories to express

Ken Fisher

After Hospitalisation

After Hospitalisation

 

The trauma’s over
Back to my own bed
Each day no longer
Self-checking that I’m not dead

Florence Nightingale no longer needed
Home service renewed once more
Gradually by gentle steps
Ensuring I don’t hit the floor

Grateful for all the kindness shown
By amateur and professional
A vast array of expertise
Their handiwork thus made credible

Now the long haul back to health
Little steps, slowly I tread
Praying for strength renewed each day
From frailty I might be led

Ken Fisher

Hospital Admission

Hospital Admission

The impending date brings apprehension
When confronted with the need for action
The pre-op procedure does little to ease the tension
Measurements a mere distraction

Checking the patient’s current state of health
Blood pressure, sugars, pulse, circulation
Many numbers but fortunately not our wealth
The costs met by the citizens of our nation

The doctor checks our respiration
ECG, Xrays and scans as needed
Earnestly seeking any indication
Of a defect so far unheeded

What are these tests meant to prevent?
Medics incurring culpability?
Misadventure to the patient who has given consent
Surely for both, reduced unpredictability

Ken Fisher

Comfort Blanket

Comfort Blanket

 

There are times in life when we are in need of comfort
Our usual confident façade’s begun to crumble
Events have conspired our mind to disconcert
The honest truth our earnest heart would humble

For long enough on this life’s roller coaster
Our tight grip on the reins stayed strong
Of past achievement quite a boaster
Surely such success bound to last long

Suddenly it hits you that you’ve lost invulnerability
No longer safe beneath a protective shield
The unexpected challenge to health or ability
The loss of that long expected bield

It’s then when the comfort blanket brings consolation
Unable to remove the existential threat
Yet to the troubled mind brings compensation
Our worst nightmares we might yet forget

Your blanket may be of many different fibres
Even blended colours might somehow soothe
Our ideas, thoughts, or faith diverse
Conspire their calming balm your furrowed brow to smooth

Ken Fisher

Conversation

Conversation

Dr Johnson says “the happiest conversation involves
no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet, interchange
of sentiments”

 

It is sometimes said that we have
lost the art of conversation
Our verbal interchanges more a matter
Of unbridled confrontation

Perhaps we listen too much
To the strident politicians
Who never give in or show
Any sign of due contrition

Conversation sometimes becomes
A battle ground
A shouting match, a stair-head brawl
Where every reasoned voice is drowned

Would that we could just
Listen to each other
Hear what is being said
New information gather

Give each due time
To state their point of view
Note the detail
Thus learn something new

Pause for breath, we need not
Be quite so abrupt
Hear the other side
Avoid the constant interrupt

Thus our tete-a-tetes
Will yield much pleasure
If in our discourse
The pace we duly measure

Ken Fisher

 

 

 

 

Quiet Quitting

Quiet Quitting

Apparently there is a new trend
Which might suggest you’re now a rebel
Where you are indeed present at work
But have taken your foot off the pedal

You have not handed in your notice
And still expect you will be paid
But your productivity has sagged
There’s minimum effort being displayed

Perhaps all this is due to the pandemic
When WFH* provided all the cover
For workers to minimise their effort
Concealed so the boss might not discover

This set me wondering if quiet quitting
Might apply to  any other endeavours
Where we may discretely withdraw
From our engagement in whatsoever

Quietly quitting requires no histrionics
No dramatic overplay of emotion
No embarrassing knee-jerk reaction
As we bring an end to our devotion

Perhaps we could just quietly quit
From allegiances we now disparage
The golf club, the Church, our social circle
In extreme cases even your marriage?

I am not advocating anything rash
But quiet quitting might be the solution
For gentle withdrawal from all that would irk
A painless retreat, not revolution

Ken Fisher

  • WFH Working From Home

National Catharsis

National Catharsis

Now it’s over
The great national catharsis
At the passing of our Queen

A vast out-pouring of emotion
Of grief, of thankfulness for her life
Of wonder at the revelation
Of all she was and has been
To so many at home
And around the globe

The great national catharsis
Proclaimed in all who paid homage
By the roadside and at the catafalque
Expressed in pomp and circumstance
In parades in capitals, in cathedrals and abbeys

The great national catharsis
As the media reviewed her gracious benefaction
From accession till final passing
Her omnipresence in the life of nations
That legacy of faithful service

The great national catharsis
As the world’s leaders assembled
With those of humbler calling
At the funeral service
A final benediction
A realisation of all our finitude

And so to Tuesday
The catharsis duly purged
What now?
The capital grows silent
Not in mourning
But in apprehension, a new era has dawned

Ken Fisher

No Longer Give Your Life, but Live Your Life?

No Longer Give Your Life, but Live Your Life?

Whatever happened to the ethic of Service?
When did the prevailing mood change?
From the idea of giving your life for others
To living your life for yourself

The death of our Queen
Who exemplified a life of service,
Has prompted reflection
On how we see our lives today

Of course we are told in the
Gospel of Matthew to
Love your neighbour
As yourself

But perhaps we have
Soft-pedalled on the neighbour bit
And majored on the loving of self
The spirit of our age

The bookshops are full of
Manuals on self-help
How to get the best out of life
In health, wealth and self-satisfaction

Perhaps we expect someone else
To do the giving, the service for others
The Government, the NHS, Social service etc
But don’t ask me to volunteer – are you mad?

So where does that leave us?
Self-contained in our little bubble
Good-bye to giving, hello to living
But perhaps happiness may be discovered
In living through giving

Ken Fisher

Apple

Apple
A Many Splendoured Thing

Thoughts about the Apple

Adam’s Apple – was that his downfall
Or was that Newton’s idea?

The Apple of his Eye – not a Crab
But a Golden Delicious

Don’t write off the whole barrel
Because of one bad Apple

The American Dream of Apple Pie
Blue Jeans and Chevrolet

It’s not Covid that keeps the Doctor away
It’s an Apple a Day

But in today’s world it is not the fruit we think of
But the iPhone, iPad, and iMac, Mackintosh’s iconic Apples

And of course, we cross the pond
To reach The Big Apple where Liberty welcomes us

Solomon pleaded –
Refresh me with Apples!
[Song of Solomon Ch2 V5]

Ken Fisher

[Cooking Apples from Mrs Fisher’s Allotment]

Rampaging Inflation

Rampaging Inflation

A new scourge seems to be afflicting our nation
In the form of renewed rampaging inflation
Apparently the worst for over forty years
Enough to engulf all our other deep fears

We thought that Covid was enough to try us
As we sought relief from that menacing virus
But now the challenge is spiralling prices
And nobody knows quite what to advise us

Energy costs are going through the roof
The high figures quoted sound like a spoof
But regrettably these numbers are not any joke
The prospects of payment are quite beyond hope

The weekly shop we can no longer afford
But rocketing prices just can’t be ignored
We will have to cut down and do something rash
Or without doubt we will soon run out of cash

Those little treats we will have to forego
Reduce our drinking, that will be a blow
But there is little doubt we must reduce our spend
A more frugal life is what we commend

So you must tighten your belt and learn to cut back
Let’s hope that employers don’t give you the sack
We must brace ourselves throughout the nation
If we are to survive this rampaging inflation

Ken Fisher

 

Freak Out

Freak Out

Surprised, upset, angry, or confused
Quite suddenly your ego badly bruised
Your mood has changed, what’s that about?
From calm composure, complete freak out

What change of fortune, turning of events
Brings this sudden surge of discontent?
What bad tidings, what ill-timed casualty
Turns settled life into catastrophe?

The truth perhaps is not so clear
What to one person induces deadly fear
To others minor inconvenience all they feel
Their thoughts to reason will appeal

What can be the cause of a freak out?
What shocking fact might make you shout
Perhaps exam results you didn’t expect
New energy bills your budget wrecked!

Freak outs prompted by bad news
Foundering at some interviews
Pay rise that didn’t materialise
Failure to win the expected prize

But somehow we must learn to cope
Don’t despair, hold on to hope
Accommodate the unexpected
Little point in being dejected

Say good-bye to pointless freak out
From nasty frights avoid the fall-out
Hang on to sunny disposition
‘Keep calm’ become your new-found mission

Ken Fisher

Contrast the above poem with Inscrutable