Saturday, November 19, 2016

PEER PRESSURE

PEER PRESSURE 

He stood so still,

he went invisible 

on one leg like a flamingo


"Encephalopods"
said the 4 year old to the librarian.
“Huh?” 
said his father. 
Animals used to come to his wide open openness 
and curiosity. 
Butterflies rested safely on his shoulders..
He wrote and illustrated stories,
his life one great imagination.
Then came the great seducer. 
Standing in the herd,
the need for being heard. 
He imagined himself cool
and created perhaps a fool
for applause, for approval. 
He gained notoriety
and lost sobriety,
Everyone knew the him he invented
but in that inventing,
he lost himself.
We all do this.
 We trade ourselves away
for a measly back slap.
We abandon ourselves so that others won’t. 
We go missing..
Then a moment comes..
a quiet clarity
and we remember 
when everything in and on the 
great blue ball glistened and beckoned us. 
Everything I look at and touch in this world
becomes a part of me,
I am the size of all that i embrace. 
Perhaps it’s time to cut free from this cocoon of appearances, 
reopen to a world
infinite in possibilities and interests. 
Step out of the small construction you present to the world.
Open wide, embrace with fascination
all the world
as only the innocence 
of a child can. 
Return to the true you.