Stream of consciousness writing in my perimenopausal years:
        aging and dying               gloom             desperation               mood swings               symptoms               philosophizing
 
May 22 84 (midnight)  

And so I sit here, crying.  
To what end?  
The thunder rages  
And trains crash violently  
Metaphoric of my inner being.  
Which effects the other?  
Does my distress cause the thunder -  
Or the thunder it?  

How long shall I indulge  
This whim for self-destruction?  
How long before I weaken sufficiently  
To sleep?  
Had I a solitary bed  
Where weeping is permitted  
 I would sleep soon.  
WHY do I weep?  
============

Sept 14, 84  

Ninety  
At the very least -  
Wrinkled sunken grey face  
Black eyes staring from purple hollows  
Drip tears.  

Oh to be gone  
To be indeterminate matter  
Ordinary, stupid and contented.  

All things cause despair - Nothing is of worth.  
My impulse is to fling out all these stupid books -  
Mind and mind and mind and idiocy  
And turn to bread and babies,  
The solid necessities of life.  
Forget all this unnecessary nothingness.....  
============  
(reference to out-ing books and in-ing babies is very significant, being totally the reverse of my previous way of life. Aha! Impending Change!)  
 

Oct 30, 84  
Life, love and laughter  
Continue fleetingly,  
Sex much diminished  
Lacking intensity,  
Emotion toned down  
And intellect receding  
Disappointingly.  
Oh for another spring!  
============
 Nov 1, 84 (written while teaching BASIC)  

Dreary, weary  
I am sick of computers  
Sick of FOR-NEXT-STEP  
Sick of INPUT  
And forsooth  
Sick of life.  
Again I would be gone -  
Indeterminate.  
How long must this last?  
How frequent the recurrence?  
I would lie down and sleep,  
Escape this nothingness  
============

Dec 12, 84  

Alas, again I doubt -  
Always this mumbling niggling voice  
Definitely placed at the BACK of my head  
Muttering warnings  
And doubt.  
I shall ignore it,  
Act AS IF I have total confidence  
============

Anxiety  

This stone in my stomach is no stone  
It has life,  
Rigid, bound life.  
Stirring slowly,  
it intermittently  
stretches out claws  
and clamps my vitals  
Calmly,  
Without hurry -  
Knowing I cannot escape.  

This tension  
is of weight  
not excitement.  
Dull, hopeless,  
It stifles,  
numbs,  
and puts a stranglehold  
on creativity.  
============

Jan 9 85  

Sunlight sparkles  
On a grey and mottled snow  
And oh!  
I would be young again  
And feel the sparkle in my toe  
And love of life.  
I would be young  
An d tread the fields of fortune  
Seeking wealth  
A wealth of spirit  
Fellowship and health.  
I would be vigorous  
Combing out my mind  
And tossing fluff away  
That clogs my spirit.  
But as it is - I age  
And feel the rapid turning  
of the page  
Of life  
A soon will see the end -  
The index and the bibliography.  
I do not fear it  
And would welcome such  
If others did not miss me.  

I feel an urge to put an end to this -  
This life of naught  
And dull eternity.  
I feel the need  
To know some other being  
And so to leave  
This dreary nothingness I'm seeing.  
If I could go  
And voluntarily cut the flow  
Of Chinese chi  
I would - for I  
Am weary.  
I do not want to live for me  
It's pointless and I do not see  
A reason to continue.  
But others might (though very few)  
Regret my going -  
And so, I'll stay.  
============

Sept 8 85  
The choice of death over life -  
Thanatos in me.  
The urge to quit  
To quit entirely and return to permanent hibernation. Cut off all emotional life, all exercise with its aerobic results.. I cannot enjoy *anything*, being my own worst enemy. Abandon poetry, abandon human awareness, return to stagnation and none shall know the difference. Mog on, plod on. I can not even enjoy X. She is too energetic and might spark me again. I resist and Freud was right. Thanatos IS. My head aches and I want to go back to bed, but it's occupied. Maybe the cellar.  

Blocked.  
Inhibited,  
I lie there  
Totally relaxed  
And totally resistant  
To response.  
WHY this death wish?  
There are three of me - Not merely two.  
The one that wants Eros  
The one that wants Thanatos,  
And the observer writing this  
Who despairs and cannot arbitrate...  
============

Nov 3, 85  
How sick am I of blood  
And pain  
And lowering depression  
And alcohol -  
the only means of relief  
Of pain and ache  
Itself a cause  
Of tears and gloomy thoughts  
Of total lack of knowledge  
Of who I am -  
No longer sure  
No longer aware  
Of what I am  
Of how to act  
Of what I want  
    Or need  
    Or strive for.  

I am adrift.  
These tears  
These sobs  
Seem quite apart from me  
Purely physical  
Unattached and causeless. 
============

 
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