The countenance of pain

Last Week was National Pain Week in Australia, with Chronic Pain Australia seeking to raise awareness and share individual stories with the theme Faces of Pain. On Facebook, we asked our followers to reflect on this year’s theme, and contribute a piece of poetry. As a special thank you, and to launch a new product, David Butler and Lorimer Moseley selected their top four entires to receive a copy of the brand new epub version of Explain Pain 2nd Ed ebook. In no particular order the four winners’ poems are shared below

Le Pain
A baker is to bread what a patient is to pain,
The secret to its production is a recipe in the brain.
Understand the ingredients, but skip steps and rush ahead
The only “pain” that will be baking is the one that’s in your head.
– Dani West

Hold my hand and keep me safe. Not too safe. Not too tight.
I know you are listening to all of me.
My watchdog. My friend.
Rest through love. I’ve got this.
– Evolving Pain

Deconstruct my face
Into Picasso-esque parts
My face my algia

Soul searched and heartfelt
Is an intimate portrait
More than words can convey.
-Rebecca Barnett

The face of pain
You see me as a person, body, arms and legs intact, but you do not see my pain.
You hear me talk words of pain, frustration, and despair, but you do not see my pain.
You note my efforts to learn to apply the science of the body, and the brain, but you do not see my pain.
I carry it with me hidden, from those who do not and can not understand. That is the face of pain.
– Gee Nicole

Our thanks again to all of the outstanding contributions.

-NOI Group

*countenance – noun, poetic;

-appearance, especially the look or expression of the face

-the face; visage

Explain Pain 2nd Ed is now available in an updated ePub format – it’s re-flowable, highlightable, notable and accessibility friendly. These features allow broad device compatibility, easy changes to font, text size and colours, easy highlighting of text and addition of notes, and extensive referencing and indexing.

Available from noigroup.com, or your favourite ebook seller.