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God's waiting room

Wednesday 16th March 2011 8:01 pm

He spoke assuredly,
Like he was God almighty,

His urged prescription was;

‘Caution’

Confusion momentarily reigned,
Until a ‘Wet Paint’ sign was seen.

With all the cut-backs;
It was easy to mistake
this porter for the hospital consultant.

Odd though, that a porter
should speak in such a way.

His prescription
unknown would have been the perfect counsel,
Against the consultant’s creeping pink coloured pills.

If only the porter or patient had known
what the porter’s subconscious
was trying to say.

About pensive faces
and creeping pink coloured pills,
And the sadness scene,

In God’s waiting room.

religion medical profession mental health subconcious thought

Morton Arms Live- Guest Poet....Isobel! ►

Comments

Isobel

Thu 17th Mar 2011 16:38

The doctors in Australia seemed a lot worse for this than over here. My sister couldn't get anything out of ours when her husband died - despite being in a dreadful state. Over there - so many people that I knew were on anti-depressants. People with little or no cause for worry or stress. I did know a lot of ex-pats though - I think despite the nice weather, there was a huge hole in their lives - the absence of family and history is a dreadful thing.

Chris Co

Thu 17th Mar 2011 16:20

Thx to all that have read and those that have commented. The poem was written with the over medication of clinical depression in mind. Because of the monetary price, NHS funding and objectives as well as the influence of big pharma; anti-depressants are often handed out like smarties.

Powerful medications can be temptingly easy solutions for doctors sometimes more keen on treating symptoms and causes. Doctors with enormous egos thinking they are god almighty also don't help.

What is the difference between God and a doctor?

God doesn't think that he is a doctor (it is an old joke, but it exists because of more than a smattering of truth).

Of course this does not apply to all doctors and anti depressants are the right medication for some with clinical depression or related issues. But like I say, they are often handed out like smarties and as a first line solution to almost anything. Like a big pharma panacea for all! Without thought to the potential damage they may cause so many people.

I have seen it.

Hey Isobel- yes 'The sadness scene' is the tag-line for it really. I agree with you that certain pain should be felt and the cause treated- certainly where theses drugs are not appropriate.

I have never had clinical depression myself, though I have and occasionally do desperately suffer depression from catastrophic events/the past. I have to live with those things one way or the other and I choose to do so in the manner that you have suggested.

Hey Steve, no Hell's waiting room reference though I can see how it may have appeared. Also in this poem no position is taken on religion; apart from saying that the existence of God is not in any doubt in the minds of some doctors. They simply and knowingly smile as they look at themselves in the mirror each morning- EEK.
I did include a purgatory reference- though in this case, it is innocent people being put through purgatory or a living hell thanks to the error of a doctor's ego. It is happening up and down the country- no doubt about it. For all the good that these meds do in the right hands and in the right cases...there are the misdiagnosed far too many of them!

Hi Cynthia,

I can only accept your opinion in so much as you feel the stanzas would could be better- I can't disagree- each to their own. Given this is free verse, I have put the line breaks in according to my taste, given their is no formal structure. I hope you like the poem in terms of content in any respect

If you want to see a poem that is structured I can afford that in another blog. How about a poem written in iambic tetramter?

Hey Jeff- Glad you like and yes I think it can be life in their hands. Perhaps that is the downfall of some doctors. After all they do say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. What more power could any man or woman have; but the power to radically alter the lives of others?

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Thu 17th Mar 2011 15:12

This is interesting. I would prefer pulling the ideas together into tighter stanzas. A big separation is a big pause, usually introducing a turn of idea, or emphasis or drama. IMO, none of these uses seem applicable compared to the interrupted flow of the ideas to carry the poem forward. I don't buy the 'easier to read' argument.

Jeff Dawson

Thu 17th Mar 2011 07:37

Your life in their or his hands, like it mate... Jeff

Steve Regan

Thu 17th Mar 2011 02:30

Bloody hell, Chris, I thought this, at first glance, was a piss-take of Hell's Waiting Room pub, New Brighton, then I got it... I think.

"Oh Mr Porter, that you should speak in such a way! Wait a minute, that's exactly what I need to hear!

Isobel

Wed 16th Mar 2011 20:48

I like this one Chris - it's very chilling and also very original. As a life long shunner of tablets, I can identify with it. Feel the pain and treat the root is my motto - though I realise that is pretty controversial and not everyone is wired the same. I'll probably be labelled a nutter, much like Tom Cruise.

I suppose the waiting room you are depicting is more of a mental health one. Even I would not dismiss physical pain relief. Hospital waiting rooms are the most dismal places on the planet, particularly when there is no hope. 'The sadness scene' puts it in a nutshell.

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