blood·sugar·canto

By ire’ne lara silva

this is what they will not tell you
and this is what you must know
if you hear nothing else i say
hear this
you cannot live in fear
you cannot heal in fear
fear will never make you stronger

fear is the language many doctors speak
they’ll say this is going to kill you
your organs are being bathed in acid
amputation dialysis coma death

and when the body does not obey
as the doctor demands
more pills
more insulin
more syringes
more often

and it will wear on you
the constant battle of
necessity versus necessity

a box of syringes
vs
gas money

the price of sufficient insulin
against
the cost of groceries

testing strips and lancets
vs
the light bill

the cost of one healthy meal
vs
the cost of three fast food meals

another co-pay
and another co-pay
vs
the cost of not seeing the doctor

they will say there are no choices
but there are always choices
though the choices
we make out of fear
are not choices

fear is a prison
fear is worse
than the disease
fear
takes
everything

some will say this is war
war raging within us
blood turned against itself
our bodies falling in battle
the enemy everywhere
within and without

but the word war
turns us against ourselves
and the word disease
renders us victims
and the war is unending
and a war always claims
casualties

in a war
there is no room
for dreaming oneself well
and the first part of the dream
is learning to listen
to your body and to your blood

it is not as simple
as
eat this not that eat that not this
take this not that take that not this
do this not that do that not this

you learn to listen
until you are the one writing the song
and the daily challenges
are the discordant notes
you must work into the score
making something more beautiful
than what there was before
not planned not wanted
but more powerful
because it is truth

but the music
will not come
if you are afraid
music like most things in life
enters in only one of two ways
el amor o el dolor
through love or through pain

i know
no one said
we were worthy of love
no one said
we were precious
or that our lives were gifts
no one said
let us learn to love ourselves
heal ourselves
care for ourselves
care for each other
teach each other
how to begin
with this essential task
of
loving ourselves

i will begin here
with these words
learning love
one utterance at a time

i will not
live
in fear

i will make song

Copyright Credit: ire'ne lara silva, "blood.sugar.canto" from Blood Sugar Canto. Copyright © 2016 by ire'ne lara silva. Reprinted by permission of Saddle Road Press.

chronic

diagnostic

insurance

nurture

osteopathy

W: Writing from an article

Th: Transitions review

Option A: Retell the main ideas of the article in your own words. Include what REM sleep is and how getting REM sleep (or the lack of REM sleep) can affect people’s brain development.

Option B: Do you often remember your dreams? Do you ever write them down or tell others about them?

Option C: Write about a dream you had recently and why you think you had it. The dream may be related to a worry, a fear, or something you have been thinking about a lot. You could also look it up in an online dream dictionary.

Similar to a stanza, a canto helps divide a lengthy poem into discrete units, allowing a coherent story to unfold.

1.     What central idea is expressed in “Dreaming and REM Sleep?”

a.      The cortex forms stories that we consider dreams.

b.     REM sleep is an important part of the sleep cycle.

c.      Infants spend more time in REM sleep than adults do.

2.     What is REM sleep?

a.      The first part of the sleep cycle.

b.     A sleep behavior disorder.

c.      Rapid eye movement sleep when people dream.

3.     What did Sigmund Freud think was the purpose for dreaming?

a.      A safety valve for unconscious desires.

b.     A way for all living things to organize signals from the brain.

c.      The brain cortex’s way of interpreting fragments of stories.

4.     Why is REM sleep important for infants?

a.      Infants need to dream more.

b.     REM sleep aids in normal brain development.

c.      REM sleep makes sleeping more enjoyable.

5.     What is the function of the cerebral cortex?

a.      It allows people to sleep while being conscious.

b.     It sends messages to the pons.

c.      It interprets and organizes information.

6.     What is the connection between REM sleep and learning?

a.      REM sleep causes people to act out their dreams.

b.     REM sleep may make us less intelligent.

c.      REM sleep may affect learning of certain skills.

7.     Which of the following is a synonym for consciousness based on how it is used in the text?

a.      Unaware.

b.     Alert.

c.      Dreaming.

8.     What does the pronoun “this” mean in the following sentences from the text? REM sleep stimulates the brain regions used in learning. This may be important for normal brain development during infancy. This would explain why infants spend much more time in REM sleep than adults do.

a.      Stimulation of learning regions in the brain.

b.     The activity of REM sleep.

c.      Learning regions.

9.     Which is the most effective paraphrase of the following sentence? “The pons also sends signals that shut off neurons to the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis of the limb muscles.”

a.      The pons shuts off the spinal cord neurons when paralysis of the limbs occurs.

b.     Long-term paralysis occurs in the pons and the spinal cord when neurons shut themselves off.

c.      The inability to move one’s arms and legs is caused by messages from the pons to the spinal cord to shut off neurons.

10.  Which of these statements about REM sleep is supported by the details in the text?

a.      REM sleep is important for infants but not for adults.

b.     REM sleep may impact learning in both infants and adults.

c.      REM sleep causes us to physically act out our dreams.