pulses in my heart alone
stirs my spirit
steels my resolve
drives me on into the fray
“to thine own self”
resonates the chambers of my soul
sweet as the song of angels
if one is not the author
or thorough editor
of the life one lives
it is plagiarized
its essence forged
my pen scribes my chronicle
until I apply my hand
the slate is blank
do not attempt to chart my course
I search my own horizon
outside the press of others
do not seek me on the surface
I break deep
below the chaos
do not summon me to your queue
I stand in line for no one
you are not my piper
do not tell me your truth
never will it be my canon
do not try to name me
I will never be yours
do not try to contain me
I live far beyond
as have I always
and ever will
life is fragile
it will be mine
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry Pantry at: Poets & Storytellers
Sounds good, Rob. Sounds like Mrs. Jim when we married. She wasn’t wanting to be controlled so very badly as her stepfather treated her mother.
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Thanks Jim!
Stirring!
Thank you Rosemary.
Everyone is so different from others, but everyone is always also going to have things in common with others. Influence is inevitable
Yes Larry, for certain — but at some point I, and others, must ultimately embrace ideas, concepts, doctrines, opinions etc. as a whole and authentic representation of the “myself” — whether they were completely original, or a compilation of influences and original thinking embraced as a part of the whole and authenyic representation of the “myself” — these become the genuine “self”, and are the foundation from which one need operate life. These are the elements of the “myself” that are tested and analyzed and found true and acceptable (real), in this point in time and space. Personally, I do not think or do anything, simply because someone has told me to do so. I do not blindly follow dogma. I am not wired to do so. Sadly, many people are. Everything must be questioned, even things beyond our current life or educational experience — and I do. Until I can understand enough to agree with it, or find it inevitable and necessary to function on the planet, I do not embrace it. Those who act solely because someone else or some organization(s) of assumed authority has decreed they should, these are not necessarily “bad” people, but they are not authentic people — they are the dangerous, pliable, “because” people! They cannot truly be trusted to be consistent or dependable, because they do not function from a center that is wholly theirs. They have no “authentic” opinion. Unfortunately the world is full of them. “DOGMABOTS”
Authentic people … I am blessed to be surrounded by them! Love the ‘speaking truth to power’ message here. Cheers.
Bravo for you Helen and I mean that sincerely . You are most fortunate! Not everyone enjoys such. It has required responsible “culling” in my life to find my core group, with whom I am willing to share and hear ideas and opinions. I then chew the hell out of that which we’ve shared, until I carefully digest, or ever expound them as my own.
“Do not summon me to your queue” … Well said! You most definitely march to your own drum, Rob. No doubt about it! You will never be the invisible man featured in my poem!
Thank you Bev. I spent my life learning, relearning, practicing, and altering the rhythms that seemed to work for me. Now the drumbeats are mine, and mine to refine. Not always perfect rhythms, but always genuine.
The best way to capture the fragility of life, as you well know, is to memorialize it in words, preferably poems.
Poetry is the celebration of life’s fragility. It has been my grip on sanity in an insane world for half a century.
As poets we are able to crystallise our thought and feelings to better understand ourselves and the world around us. We are indeed fortunate There are not many of us but when we find each other the world becomes a richer place for us and the others who stumble across our words
Poetry can say so much, so powerfully. It breaks my heart to realize that the people who really need to be shaken and moved — seem deaf to it. Seem not to have the inner strength and personal awareness to be moved. “DOGMABOTS”, blindly upholding the political or religious or organizational “party line”, even if it is repressive and evil — living for approval or out of propagandized fear, instead of thinking for themselves, instead of for logically-deduced, personally-analyzed reasons. The very dangerous — “because” they were told to people, or the “because” that’s the way it has always been people. The mindless “because” people, that enable evil yo thrive. That is what drove me to write “My Chronicle”. I had two beautiful peak moments of “hearing”, powerful moments of the sprit/mind in the past twelve months. It was two poets that provided the impact. Brandon “Pookie” Leake, on of all places — AGT. And Amanda Gorman at the Inauguration. Two powerful young black voices, that still resonate in my head. Hearing, thinking deeply, and stripping away unsubstantiated dogma — this is how one forms their authentic self, and writes their own chronicle.
Dogmabot… I know a few of those. Bah!
DOGMA: “an unsubstantiated principle, or set of principles, laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true, to influence and control the beliefs and actions of those who subscribe.” These are the DOGMABOTS! They can be under the control of political, religious, or organizational groups. They are unthinkingly blind, and therefore very dangerous. I know a helluva lot of these clones Debi, way too many. They find it more comfortable to follow than to think for themselves. Unfortunately, they are wreaking havoc as they continue to grow in number
I love the defiance in this. The last two lines especially blow me away.
Thank you Rommy. Thus is about responsibility and meaningfulness, not superiority or isolation.