Fine Just Fine
By Pat West

I choose not to reply
fine
just fine
when I'm not

I refuse to accept
empty phrases
as truths
this too shall pass
time heals

I choose not to embrace
abstract ideas as my own
a bigger picture
a better place

I refuse to
mask my misery
hide the hurt
disguise
the despair
to help others
feel better

Because I'm not
fine
just fine

Pat Phillips West is a former hospital administrator who has turned to writing poetry and memoir. She lives and writes in Carson City, Nevada. After the premature deaths of two of her sisters, one brother and her husband, she discovered the healing power of pen put to paper. Her publishing house, PJW Publishing, was developed to create niche market greeting cards for terminal patients. Her work has been published in Labyrinth: Poems and Prose, The Broward, and appeared in the eZine, FZQ Poetry.