Just My Thoughts: In Her Time... A Guest Blog From Poet David Reaum...

Just My Thoughts: In Her Time... A Guest Blog From Poet David Reaum...: In Her Time... A Guest Blog From Poet David Reaume Demola An old woman once told me that life was so much more simple, in her ...

In Her Time... A Guest Blog From Poet David Reaume Demola

In Her Time...

A Guest Blog From Poet David Reaume Demola

An old woman once told me that life
was so much more simple,
in her time.

Because all she ever learned was reception,
working the front desk for a local businessman,
welcoming guests into the house of her husband –

She said she can’t remember when it all shifted.
It feels like she woke up one morning and the world was this:

Her daughters wanted more from their existence
they grew up with college educations,
struggled to climb career paths while she laughed at them

Because all she ever learned was reception –

at the hand of her husband
to teach her a lesson
to never do what he told her not to, again
because even if it doesn't make sense
she was taught by his methods never to question

He said “just sit there, until it’s time to clean the home,
it’s time to fuck me,
or it’s time to feed our children.”

And her daughters don’t understand why she let him do it, back when he was alive.

And she tells me she explained it’s because she had asked for it
because she knew his temper
but still disobeyed him once in awhile.

And she tells me, now that they've grown older,
her daughters have learned to resent her

and now she wishes they would talk to her
so she could apologize for taking his abuse for so long.

So she can apologize
to them
For all the times she let his hand hit her.

She wants to tell them it hurts her more
than every fist he ever put to her
knowing that her daughters don’t even respect her.

And I don’t think they remember
that women’s suffrage is still a young institution in this country
and the societal right for a husband to lay hands on his wife
is still held
in places that don’t have women’s shelters.

And this old woman tells me
she would have hated to have her daughters’ sense of freedom, in her time.

She’s not sure if she could have survived.

______

A lot of my writing (if I had to put it into a percentage, I’d say 90%) comes from personal experience. This particular piece comes from a phone call I took while doing tech support for Apple (there’s a lot of downtime while devices turn off and on, where you’re encouraged to converse with the customers).

On my website, http://8-bitreality.com, there is a good deal of first drafts for poems. I tend to save the finished drafts for publication (I have two books, so far) – but I love having a repertory of drafts so people can see the history of a poem, and how it changed (or didn't change).

Also, I house an ongoing case study-style examination of Major Depression, which has actually saved a few lives and helped a few people understand this very quixotic, often ill-portrayed condition. - David 

Just My Thoughts: I'm Too Pretty to Fight...

Just My Thoughts: I'm Too Pretty to Fight...: I'm Too Pretty to fight... I'm not speaking in terms of perfect skin afraid of the inevitable scars of life/ Nor am ...

I'm Too Pretty to Fight...

I'm Too Pretty to fight...

I'm not speaking in terms of perfect skin afraid of the inevitable scars of life/

Nor am I speaking like a man who carries guns after his previous loss in a fist fight/

This isn't the fast talk of a pimp with Jedi mind tricks that depends on clean suits and verbal abuse/

This is testimony in the form of good game that looks at the selfish like “what is the use?” /

In this verse "pretty" describes the beautiful sweet soul, sprinkled with the sugar of naivety/

That soul who finds out daily how relentless evil is through the unreasonable shit it has to say/

An argument between the selfish and the selfless will make about as much sense as a wet food stamp in a recession/

The reason why is the weapon it forged through the ego stained glasses of selfish perception/

So riddle me this Batman; how do porcupines mate? /

Carefully... how I suggest you do when your soul is at stake/

Evil never takes a day off and neither does selfish behavior/

It's hard coexisting with someone who is relentlessly determined to tip the scales in their favor/

It breaks the bonds of trust, and frankly it fills me with disgusts/

When a union is "you doing you" and "me doing me" when it's supposed to be "us" /

You don't have to go to a party of the negative just because you received an invite /

R.S.V.P. stands for a French phrase, "répondez, s'il vous plaît," which means "please reply."

(I'm Too Pretty to Fight)

G.B.

this is s performance piece...

http://gbleu.com/news-letter.html

Just My Thoughts: 21 Questions to ask Your Future Spouse.

Just My Thoughts: 21 Questions to ask Your Future Spouse.: 21 Questions to ask Your Future Spouse. 21 – Do you feel with sincerity deep inside your heart of hearts that you and I can m...

Just My Thoughts: A Moment of Clarity... #Poem

Just My Thoughts: A Moment of Clarity... #Poem: So here I stand/ audience curious/ cameras rolling/ verses upon verses on the ready/ heart pumping blood furiously/ glands injecting adren...

21 Questions to ask Your Future Spouse.

21 Questions to ask Your Future Spouse.

21 – Do you feel with sincerity deep inside your heart of hearts that you and I can make each other better people?

20 – If yes how so? If no please go…

19 – In your eyes what are the roles of man and woman inside the confines of a marriage? To be fair I will give you my answer 1^st. mine is aligned by faith where the woman is the wisdom and the man enforces and protects that wisdom. So again I ask number 19: In your eyes what are the roles of man and woman inside the confines of a marriage?

18 – What kind of relationship do you have with your father and mother?

17 – If that relationship is strained to where you find yourself unable to forgive them, how do I know you will be able to forgive me?

16 – What is your 5 year plan, your 10 year plan and your 20?

15 – If you don’t have any and I've got plenty are we NOT headed towards a war of the spirit?

14 – Are you comfortable with your sexuality?

13 – Would my comfort level with my own intimidate you?

12 – Have you ever found happiness on your own without having a mate?

11 – Have you ever blamed someone for wasting years of your life?

10 – Whether you are religious or atheist, can you make an argument for why love exists and its purpose in the universe?

9 – If all your friends in your circle look one way, IE cute, fat, unattractive, can you tell me why that is?

8 – If this is the case, why is your circle not reflective of the diversity of the world?

7 – And if in fact you can exclude people with such fervor, what assurances do I have that you won’t exclude me down the line?

6 – Is there a part of your spirit you feel is broken?

5 – If yes or no, is there something about me you feel can help heal it?

4 – Will the way you raise your children remotely resemble how your parents raised you?

3 – My love for creativity will never come before my life mate. Yet that fact will not make me love inspiration any less. With this rule of thumb in mind, can you see the potential for jealousy here?

2 – I would describe a beautiful death as me as an old man; surrounded by my children’s children. Passing away during my sleep with no pain or regrets. Can you describe a beautiful death?

1 – Now can you paint a picture of our beautiful life?