Published with COPE Magazine!

Now I am in no way playing favourites but I've been eagerly awaiting this publication because I am so so honoured to be included in such a meaningful magazine! COPE Magazine Volume 4: Diagnosis is now live and within it is little old me with another [sad] poem. COPE give people within the chronic illness community a place to vent, share art, share feelings and it is so amazing to see this beautiful magazine come together to help give voices to people within this community that I find myself belonging to.

I won't bore you with the details, but having a chronic illness at the moment is seemingly under a LOT of scrutiny. People saying that we don't deserve help, we should just "get a job", that we're apparently all faking it just to rinse the government of a few pennies. But the truth of it is, we're deserving of respect, time and patience as much as anyone else is. I don't know a single person within this community that would choose to deal with the cards they've been dealt and yet we do.

I use a walking stick. Not all the time, but when I need to. Do you know what people are calling walking sticks at the moment? A "PIP Stick". Now, as much as I enjoy the rhythm of that little dig, I find it so, so unnecessarily mean. I am so embarrassed about having to use it (not that I should be) but I don't ever want to. I don't want people looking at me and thinking things like that. But, sadly, they do. Not everyone, of course; but a lot of people are angry and so they should be but their anger should not be directed at people who are just trying to get by whilst living with serious, every day symptoms that can completely remove identity, independence and existence.

Screenshot of excerpt showing title: Diagnosis and author: Natasha Abell-Cwietkow

ANYWAY, enough of ranting (sorry) the new volume of COPE Magazine online can be found here! And again, I am so, so grateful to be a part of this. If you fancy spoiling yourself and treating yourself to a beautiful magazine full of spoonie work, you can head straight to the check out (go on, click me, treat yourself. if i make the link this long you might just click on it. go on. dare you)

Thank you so much for being here, reading, not reading, skimming, laughing, whatever it is you were up to. It means a lot that someone is reading along on this silly little journey I'm taking myself on.

Love and light, always,

Tasha