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WordPress PlanetIn Certain Social Situations – Poem by Bruce Whealton
Another one of my experiences with knots, social knots… my observations.
In Certain Social Situations
I came to a party
everyone was playing a game.
I know they were playing a game
but I don’t know how to play
because I never learned
how to play.
What if they were playing a game
of pretending to play
a different game
or what if they just seemed
to be playing one game
when they were actually playing
another game?
I was afraid I’d play the wrong game
and never be allowed
to play more games
even though,
I don’t think,
I ever played
any of these games,
because I never knew what game
they were playing…
or if I was playing
the game,
I didn’t know
I was playing the game
nor did I know,
if I was playing the right
game
or not.
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
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Act Naturally – Part II – Poem by Bruce Whealton
Act Naturally – Part II
Naturally, I want to act,
naturally
and act on my feelings
but not too quickly.
I have to know,
what I really feel
so I’ll know what I want
and so I’ll act naturally
without having to stop
and think about
what I feel
I want.
I want to feel
like I’m acting
naturally.
I want to feel
that I know
what I want
and so I won’t have to think
about what I feel
I want
or think about
how to best act
naturally.
People learn these things
naturally.
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
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Knots poems by R.D. Laing & Act Naturally – poem by Bruce Whealton
So, R.D. Laing is this psychiatrist from the 60s that absolutely fascinated me. He wrote about his experiences with people with schizophrenia. In addition, much of his writing can be expanded to social relationships and social communication and how confusing it can become. He put out this collection of poems called “Knots” that deal with just what I was describing – not schizophrenic communication but everyday communication that can be confusing and get tangled in knots. It inspired me to write my own knots. I can safely say that I am not copying his poems or just adding to the collection; I’ve found my own knots and in many ways they are very personal observations of what confuses me. As an introduction, let me reproduce the first poem, or maybe it is the first part of a poem. He has this book Knots and it is divided into 4 chapters but on each page you can read what seem like poems in themselves. So, from page one he writes:
“They are playing a game. They are playing at not
playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I
shall break the rules and they will punish me.
I must play their game, of not seeing, I see the game.”
In my knots poems, I deal with some very different things than the games he is describing. Yet, one or two of my poems deal with games. I was trying in those two, to express my confusion, my own personal confusion that comes from having been shy. I certainly am inspired by personal experiences that many would describe as characteristic of shyness. I’ve worked in the psych field and been trained in the field and have the benefit of discussing the matter with colleagues of mine or others similarly trained. We have come to agree that my experiences do represent shyness. Anyway, I’ve always had a desire to be heard, understood… that’s the writer in me… to express my deeply felt experiences in a very genuine way. Perhaps some reader will relate. So, here is another one of my poems inspired by “Knots.”
Act Naturally
Just act naturally!
Naturally, I am learning,
just what to do,
naturally.
Do people learn, naturally,
how to act natural?
I must learn social skills
so that I will know
what to do, naturally,
when I want to act,
naturally.
Part II – Discovering the game
I am just learning
for the first time,
that sometimes,
people are playing games,
when I had not known
they were playing a game.
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
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Change – Poem by Bruce Whealton
Change
My friend, who I’ve not seen in decades,
writes about how utterly happy he has been
for the past couple days…
it’s just something that people share
through the magic of electronics and social networking…
It made me think of all the time
that’s passed and wonder about
what changes? And What remains the same?
Hair changes,
weight changes…
memories remain (some)…
Mannerisms develop
and remain
as part of who we are
or have become;
some of this is inherited.
Shyness self-sustains
like a bad eduction.
Skills fade,
friends fade,
remain, reappear.
I was taught
happiness should have existed
and then gradually
declined – my teachers
must only have had distant
memories of happiness
but they never spoke of it.
Maybe happiness is possible
through the comfort
of forgetting -
forgetting the time that’s passed,
what we’ve lost,
what’s faded.
I feel like, I know,
my friend would have dreaded
the loss of so much
of his hair,
(why did I notice that
about him?)
as if it had something
to with one’s worth
and social worth -
happiness?
Maybe I shouldn’t ponder
these thoughts,
questioning the value
of memories,
if there’s such value
in forgetting.
I wonder about the title on this. Surely, I’ll have many thoughts on change and so no one poem can sum up the concept of change.
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
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About Being Alone and Noticing, Writing, Sharing.
Ana Ribeiro, fellow poet and friend from Wilmington, NC wrote on her blog a nice poem for Easter … about walking around the river walk that overlooks the Cape Fear River, being alone and just noticing things. “Easter in Wilmington,” by Ana Ribeiro is here. Having lived for many years in Wilmington, this poem brought me back there in the reading of it. I was there when I read the poem… hearing the river move against the shore… feeling reflective… noticing things… writing about what I see.
Today was a nice Easter day. I spent time with friends from my church, after attending the 3 hour long Mass last night. Then I went to the Weaver Street Market area, a hang-out in Carrboro. I thought I’d sit outside, enjoy the warmth (temps were in the 80s today). I had brought two poetry collections, one by Anne Sexton (her complete poems) and one by Sylvia Plath (her complete poems). I don’t know why I decided on those two collections, as I wasn’t in a depressive mood – those two poets clearly had a thing for depression or with depression. Anyway, I thought it would lead to some inspiration. I sometimes feel like I have something to write, something to share, but need something, some inspiration to get it out.
I actually didn’t get to reading much. I spent the early evening hours editing some poetry by my friend Ryan. He had asked me to edit a couple collections of his and this is the first of two. I’m amazed at how long this is taking me, though. I’m not even halfway though. I guess I want to be thorough and feel like my name will be connected with this in some way.
Anyway, I guess I also wanted to meet people in this town. Perhaps being on the computer isn’t the best way to do that. I only got people asking me, “Is this chair free?” To which, I’d respond, “of course, it is, I’m alone.” I think if you spend time reading something or writing… or just sitting somewhere with pencil and paper, that inspires more conversations or makes it more likely that someone will make conversation. I remember last year, at Wrightsville Beach, doing some writing and having someone at one point ask if I was an artist. Now, come to think of it, maybe having one’s head in a book wouldn’t make one look open to conversation. I think a book of poems will make one less likely to look lost in one’s own world.
I don’t know… when I do get in moods like this, and have that feeling that there is something I need to write, I tend to read a poem, then look up, look around, notice things. Even when I write about something I might notice outside, at this location here in Carrboro, or at the beach, if I were to go to the beach … something that catches my eye, inspires me, I think this could be an expression of something from my subconscious… something that was telling me I need to write, even before I knew what I wanted to write. I mean if I go to the beach and write about things that inspire me once I get there, I have known times when I felt like I had satisfied that desire within me, that had expressed itself before I even got to the beach. Maybe I need an editor for this to see if I’m making any sense here.
Nothing inspired me, and I didn’t have that spirit that Ana had, as she expresses in her blog posting. Maybe I needed to just spend more time observing and writing. Maybe I need to do so… maybe it is healthy, cathartic or something like that. Maybe it becomes a need for folks, like us.
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
From Bruce Whealton: Career, Interests and Values, post In Certain Social Situations – Poem by Bruce Whealton
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Two of my dark poems now appear in Death Head Grin #10
My two poems entitled “Sensuous and Strong as the Serpent,” and “On the Run,” now appear in Death Head Grin here.
These two poems are featured in the publication “Puncture Wounds,” which is a collaboration between myself and Scott Urban. Puncture Wounds is available here.
More poetry by Bruce Whealton can be found at http://brucewhealton.us
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
From Bruce Whealton: Career, Interests and Values, post In Certain Social Situations – Poem by Bruce Whealton
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Thanks,
Bruce
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
From Bruce Whealton: Career, Interests and Values, post In Certain Social Situations – Poem by Bruce Whealton
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Thanks,
Bruce
This blog is published by Bruce Whealton, more information about Bruce Whealton is here… Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a North Carolina Company providing Web Design and Web Development. Visit:
NC Web Design:Future Wave Designs
From Bruce Whealton: Career, Interests and Values, post In Certain Social Situations – Poem by Bruce Whealton
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