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Thank You for your Actuality
by Michael Smith
I possess great sympathy for you,
as you, too, have unwittingly become
both a victim and an aggressor in a thick plot of disturbing origin.
My life is measured.
In fact, I measure twice and cut once.
Your judgment is exactly that.
Your bias precedes your words in an ether you shouldn't be ignorant of.
This is not the first time I have found myself in a land where I have no rights.
This won't be the last time I am a victim of the stereotypes of my actuality.
I am actually increasingly thankful,
not necessarily for the wounds you have reopened,
but for the reminder that I still have much healing to do.
And I will be thankful for all that follows from this point forward,
as you merely continue to be yourself and embody your own set of principles,
whether that leaves me homeless again or not.
Thank you for embodying exactly that for which you were created,
and for acquiring the foreign elements which enable us to become
that for which we were actually invented.
01/10/2010 Author's Note:
More prose than poetry, I know; I'm sorry.
Posted on 01/10/2010
Copyright © 2024 Michael Smith
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Therese Elaine on 01/10/10 at 10:12 PM Don't be sorry -it's wonderful...and besides, then I'd have to apologize for just about everything I've ever written!!! You wield language here quite wonderfully and there is a strength and a force in this that makes it a powerful piece...you should be quite proud! |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 01/11/10 at 04:31 AM Loved the weight in many of these lines. Thank you. |
| Posted by Steven Kenworthy on 01/11/10 at 04:33 AM to return the favor and read good work myself...i welcome prose as opposed to poetry from time to time. this is extremely well-written. actually, it almost feels gridded, like plotted carefully as opposed to "written", but that's part of the idea right? this is honest and emotional without being too much so...and personally inviting. i'll read prose like this anyday chief. well well done...like a strong filet mignon..."cut once"...hehe. |
| Posted by V. Blake on 01/11/10 at 05:07 AM Jeeeeeze, today was a good day for poems on this site man. This one's my favorite of the bunch so far, though. "My life is measured. In fact, I measure twice and cut once." Fantastic. |
| Posted by Amie Golda on 01/11/10 at 08:19 AM No, I think it is still peotic, no matter the form, which is also poetic. Your comment is actually ironic to the meaning of the poem. So don't apologize. On the poem itself: it's a great read with wonderful truths, indeed though painful, realizations and the people or things that prompt them are what prove us to be creatures with souls. So...well said. |
| Posted by Charlie Morgan on 01/11/10 at 07:17 PM ...no one should miss the first line. not only is it true; we have to have sorrow for the ingnorance that dances w/ peoples opinions...even if they slay us with their b.s. ...you describe a discussion? i had just yesterday and every time i turned around my percieved actuality was in a battle w/ her actuality, whereas, we both have changed only she doesn't know it. great depthful write, Mike. |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 01/11/10 at 07:40 PM Nice write Michael, whether prose or poem, I like it. Actuality is always better than reality. The sarcastic twinge is great. Thanks. |
| Posted by Nanette Bellman on 01/14/10 at 05:31 AM This piece is powerful. Each line is an affirmation. It hits home for me because at this moment in my life, these are affirmations I need to make to myself and those around me. I can think of someone in my life that definetly needs to read this and maybe then, they'd get what life is all about. |
| Posted by Scott Utley on 01/15/10 at 01:34 AM This is a great piece - I am asking myself what does he mean by ... that ... by that ... is he looking at me? What's that meant to say - to mean? It's rich and brilliant ... |
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