Well, '"You know, you really should get out more"' is a CROWDS response to an INDIVIDUIALS existential problem. How does one 'get out' when one is 'pushed in' by the very CROWD? And will this propounder of the common belief system recognize, acknowledge this INDIVIDUAL? Is he capable? So, the role playing continues. Let the show run. hahahahahaah

Ha! Incredible Laura. This deserves POTD and is my pick for today. Ashok is so right in what he says, but I don’t know how anyone could have put it more eloquently or cleverly than in this piece you have written. “filling a void” – one would think this an easy task since voids are so ideal for filling. But what happens if you choose the ‘wrong filling’, that which is unacceptable or unacknowledged by the crowd? The answer is ACTION when the masses have deemed “WORD” in its place. Words not Action is what they SAY and not what they mean. Yes, these days “intimacy is negotiated and paranoia passes for currency” – what a splendid line Laura, how insightful and clear you see your surroundings. I think the ending is brilliant as this one line brings one to the height/climax of frustration and madness, “you know, you really should get out more” – Oh it makes one want to scream at the top of their lungs, he who knows what this really means! As Ashok says, it is ALL OF YOU who push me IN then have the audacity to tell me I should ‘get out’ hahahahaha What a joke, is it not? But still, she whose “mouth is full of swelling…undigested words” must swallow them whole if only to play her role so that she may acquire a path OUT of this dilemma. She must avoid “her bitter friendship with seclusion” in order to save and seclude herself from the meaningless ranting and twisted self-serving logic of the CROWD and so-called friends. She must allow the “show to go on” as Ashok says, if she is to keep herself alive and free of those CROWD-spun obstacles. Her only way to freedom is to play a role, though always remembering never to allow it to change into her own skin. This is a wonderful piece Laura. I sympathize and relate in every way. At least to the way I interpreted it. Thank you for sharing this.

Ooops...I mean "action not words is what they SAY but not what they mean" :-)

You create a new vista in the ever-present tension and conflict between the individual and the group. My favorite phrase: "crimes against humility" But that 4th verse is smashing and powerful. It gave me one of those "I wish I had thought of that!" moments. Brilliant poem.

Confident expression of inner turmoil. Good one Laura. Congrats on POTD...well deserved!

keen observation + a sensitive and not overly tyrannical control and manipulation of words via the method whereby quill gets dipped fresh in well, a quill which is obviously given a chance to come up for air = or results in this.

Paranoia is a survival skill. Getting out more... I get out every day. The more I get out, the more I realize I don't want too. You'll never get rid o' me. You can walk away for years --and as soon as you wanna talk -just talk. I'll be listening. No judgments. No hurt feelings. Just an ear that's almost always on. Great read.

I absolutely love the first two lines (the rest is good too though).