Lonely Men

air their opinions quite often
and to whoever they are with
who might just be listening.

But they are rarely listened to
as attentively as they would like,
or imagine that they actually are.

Their loneliness reduces
how they hear all speech,
particularly their own.

So they never hear themselves
as others hear them, and never wish
for brighter conversations.  

Am I Receiving Me?

I like to talk, I also like quiet. On my own
I talk to myself because thinking aloud is easy.

I will speak as I breathe, particularly after
I have had the open conversations with others
where I did not say what I thought at the time;
it was not apt, or a could not get the idea in edgeways.
.
I try to listen in conversation,
and imagine I am being listened to.
But how my hearing tires when I try to listen
and I know the person I am listening  to
is simply not listening to themselves.

They are not weighing their words
or putting forward ideas, just downloading.

My heart picks up
when I feel the empathy from the other side
-whether it resides in speech or music.
Or best of all in a mutual and deep silence.  

Lonely Men

air their opinions quite often
and to whoever they are with
who might just be listening.

But they are rarely listened to
as attentively as they would like,
or imagine that they actually are.

Their loneliness reduces
how they hear all speech,
particularly their own.

So they never hear themselves
as others hear them, and never wish
for brighter conversations.   

Telling Stories

is an ingrained habit for humans,
who clearly like to detain each other,
at length with expansive narratives.

The technology by which we do this
has vastly expanded our means of being entertained.

The problem is that as our stories get retold
many a story travels less well
than it's teller likes to think;
the less personal the means of conveyance
the tighter the script needs to be
to refresh it's audience properly.

But in our deathly self absorption
we continue to insist we are 'entertaining'
with repeats of old stories that have become cliche.

God save you all from my when I become bored with myself
-you will spot it before I do.....

Telling Stories

is an ingrained habit for humans,
who like to detain each other
at length with expansive narratives.

Technology has vastly expanded
the means by which we do this.

The problem is that as our stories
get retold they travel far less well
than the teller likes to think;
the less personal the means
of the telling the further the story gets;
the more constantly the script
needs to be refreshed to keep travelling .

But in our deathly self absorption
we continue to insist we are 'entertaining'.

God save you all from my boredom with myself.

Inverted Values

Any parochial  people that tries to deny
the lack of choice they offer each other
will mature the denial best
by dividing from each other
into ever smaller units of disagreement.

Gossip

-the flannel that always leaves us dirty.