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.