Judi Brannan Armbruster

FMS (Fibromyalagia Syndrome)

Decades of pain and shame
years of chronic fear
written into every ligament
each strand of muscle fiber

a poison forced into me
that which was sweet and soft, torn
those memories
alive in this ache inside

I try

numbness in drugs
a few new therapy labels
yet this sickness
lingers
disease-like it spreads
a small back muscle, jerks
then a cascade of pain engulfs

sometimes the fog is a blessing.

* * *

KLAMATH RIVER MEDITATION*

There is a trail
down through tall cedar,
down to the River.

The Sun shines
in shafts of gold
creates patterns
on the red dirt.
Light-beams glisten
and dance on the water.

I sit on a boulder
Flat and gray
That lies partway
Under the water.

I feel warmth
from this rock
from the Sun
from somewhere
deep inside.

I listen . . .
the Water's voice;
speaks to me.

I feel . . .
Peace.
I am . . .
Peace.

All I see is sacred.
I am . . .
sacred.

Ha'a

*Previoiusly published in Red Voices and The Book of Hope.

Judi Brannan Armbruster,62,is a direct descendant of the Karuk Tribe of northern California. Her poetry is found on the internet and in literary magazines and anthologies including Yellow Medicine Review, Stellar Showcase Journal, Thresholds, Autumn Leaves, Short, Fast and Deadly, Poetry Quarterly, 4 and 20 ezine, Red Ink and Red Voices. She is actively work-shopping her poetry at the Wild Poetry Forum.