This site discusses phimosis in its specific forms of phimotic ring, frenulum breve, adhesions or skinbridges. During erection these conditions inhibit the relationship between foreskin and glans. This functionally restricts the erection, and thus has an effect on the sexuality. With our culture's attitudes on health care, it would be appropriate to encourage early prevention. 2012 : note from author: My previous idea of monitoring boys before puberty is impractical, unnecessary and now only of historical interest. please see Postscript.

ED'S POEMS Dear Robin, You ask “how to get the message across?” I think the issues are very difficult to separate but I find my poetry makes connections and expresses very deep human psyche matters in a light and hopefully more easily understandable way. Having said this, I believe that each poem needs some explanation in order really to get inside the subject. There is a big connection, I feel, with the thicket in which Abrahams ram got stuck (as I’m from a farming family is quite easy to visualise the ram’s behaviour on being stuck in this way), with the “crown of thorns” and with phimosis/frenulum problems, which kind of makes sense – ( We all have our cross to bear (i.e. everyone about anything) and We have our crown of thorns to wear We all have our cross to bear; And we have our crown o' thorns t' wear: Like Abraham's ram caught in the thicket, Substituted for His Son... .. .and taken to the sacrificial table. Breaking the Law. Foreskins and circumcision seem to run all the way through the Bible and the legal technicality (i.e. working on the Sabbath) upon which the Pharisees decided that Jesus was “trouble”, was really interesting to me because as Jesus correctly points out, circumcision takes place on the eighth day after birth and therefore can take place on the Sabbath. The poem finishes with my own “ healing” which was enabled by a chance encounter with a faith healer when I was in the midst of my dreadful breakdown in 1984. Breaking The Law Jesus: “Circumcision (i.e. healing) on the eighth day: It happens on the Sabbath.” The Pharisees didn’t like it, Such a practical riposte. Prevention is better than cure, But oh how the legal language Is confusing the ritual benefit: We’re going to need a sage. Healing’s not prevention It’s saving those ‘been felled; It raises up to a higher plane, The pain of those who yelled. Relieved and oh so lifted Prevention is better than cure, But if you are the fallen You want to be safe and sure. So why not on the Sabbath? It doesn’t make any sense: Prevention is surely a healing With just a future tense. But is it right to presuppose that, A miracle’s one thing and science another, Which might be best is where it’s at? Ignorance is bliss until thoughts of t’other. Chaos is the fear And with paternal instinct “No son of mine shall suffer” as I Fell on that bleakest precinct. (Treat according to condition, Not blindly follow the rite. Understand the implications of The frenulum that is tight). So they decided to kill him. The crowd thought “ paranoia”. The learned believed they’d got him Through rafts of technicalia. The crowd was then whipped Up and suitably frenzied Becoming putty in the hands Of Caiaphas’s masterly for’e’d He manipulated all deftly Keeping ol’ Moses’s law Choosing to overlook that Small but-so-vital flaw. Crucified for common sense – What was it all about? Keeping the faith o’ their ancestors And their own faith? Not a shout. Presuppose and precedent; Doctors of the law, beware: Prejudgement and Heaven scent You’ll only get with flair Imagination and ingenuity Has to break the mould, For sins committed and forgiven, Come back to the fold. I love you Jesus… …You came to my rescue: …You visited upon me… ...You only knew the cue. Faith restored, it really works, But do believe your lovers: It’s God who sees you as you are, There really is no other. 27.4.06 Sarah’s Laugh Lasts and Confucius He Say: By Sarah, Reading the whole story of Abraham is probably really the only way to get into them. They stem from stripping the story right down: Sara was allegedly barren but when Abraham eventually worked out to do the op, and did it, Sarah gave birth within a year. This leads to the very simple conclusion that it was Abraham that had the problem (and he was concious of it even if not initally understanding it), not Sara (i.e. the presumption that she was barren is a completely typical male reaction.. (not necessarily Abraham's.. and one can understand slave-girl Hager's perspective, i.e. that if the boss's wants her have a child she'd best make sure that she gets pregnant..)). Sarah’s Laugh Lasts Hagar’s lording it up again, It really gets my goat, Who does she think she is? This slave-girl surrogate. “DO something, Abe” I said, “I know it was my idea, But I honestly wasn’t expecting things To be really quite this dire”. This drove him into his garden shed, As he tried to hatch a plan. I had no idea what he was doing: He’s just a typical man. I think that he has finally flipped, He’s all giggly and sheepish, Three strangers he’s just invited in Say now they’ll grant my wish. “The opportunity is there” Abe said, “by engineering design: I’ve cut the brambles from the head And now ‘twill all be fine”. “Yeah right” I thought, but he caught me short And clearly he wasn’t joking, ‘Twas then I realised how he cared And that neither was he barking. Enjoy the moment absolutely, yes, It brings new leases of life In every which way, people, yes, I am after all his wife. And so we rode into the night, Conceived in that garden shed, Synonymous with that which is… What’s going on in his golden head? Oh joy of joy (If a little bit wild) I am now blessed with My own dear child! Isaac, we did call him, as Happiness indeed embodied: For to produce a dynasty ‘cause O’ what Ol’ Abram did. But it’s interesting this… And I really have to say, I was wondering what it was That was with Hagar’s way? Her story now is sounding tall And I’m beginning to doubt: They may have got it together But did Abe’s seed come out? She realises I am onto her and I think that she is rumbled: She and Ish have gone away, And avoided thus being humbled. Bliss at last, again I say My own little family here: We’re living ever after now My happiness is sheer. 21.7.06 ______________________________ Ishmael Or Plea For World Peace Mom and Sara at daggers drawn, (Nothing new there), Influencing Dad To quell the storm. I see trouble ahead, He’s got this idea That Sara will conceive If he lops off his cover. (And mine, too And everyone else’s In the household). He’s pleased with me, “It’s just a procedure ‘Twill make Sara happy”, Though fills me with seizure. He’s right dead set, And on it “life depends”, So we all had it done, The tweaking o’our ends. (He’s a proud man, You see, What’s good for him, Is good for thee.) Twelve months later, Lo and behold, I have a little brother, “The primary line”, to be told. Fair enough, I like the guy, But Sara would have none of it, And sent us away. Mom’s a star, And gave me my wits, And found me a wife To bear me my kids : ) The old man died And with Isaac I mourned The loss of our father We loved, never scorned. We went our separate ways Always knowing that, whatever, The love of a father Is thicker than water. Nature or nurture, Don’t lose the point, Love conquers all, Don’t fight o’er the joint, Please. 5.3.06 ______________________________ “Confucius – He Say”, by Sarah Abraham’s been acting strange I think that he’s confused Which boy is his first boy And which to disabuse. There’s nothing I can say T’would make any difference He’s nurtured both as ‘is own: He has no preference. Ishmael’s long since gone away, About which Abe feels guilty There’s nothing much that I can say I’m trusting that he’s not faulty. He and ‘Saac have gone on a trip To make a sacrifice If I knew then what was in store He’d not have had the chance. “Dad had a little moment there, He put me an a table And raised up his dagger high Just as Cain with Abel.” “My boy, my boy you must have feared What was he thinking of?!” - “Confusion reign, it was his pain Of how to deal with love. Luckily there, the ecology deep, Came to our rescue, A ram was in the brambles and Was pushing the thorns on cue. Faith supreme is the lesson here One really mustn’t wobble, For what is meant to be Will be, I’d advise against a squabble.” I had to think and weigh things up After all he’d given to me, The social services were involved: They decided to see Saacs’ plea. If they’d not accepted this, Nor understood the mitigation, We’d not have the lesson that Is how to join One Kingdom. 22.7.06 Do my musings simply confirm that my interest and understanding of the subject of a problem foreskin are signs of mental illness, or is mental illness a sign of a foreskin problem, or is it simply the case that there is no possibility of there being any correlation between the condition and the disorder? Those, I guess, are the key questions… Best wishes, Ed.