You like things tidy and neat.
"I'm a little OCD," you giggle.
No, you're not.
Until you've ground
yourself fine and sifted
the dust, you're not.
Until you've ritualed moons
for a fresh thought or a forward
link in your chain, you're not.
Until you've burst your eyes
to find a white space
in the small print
that follows you close
as blood and bone,
you're not.
You prefer tidy.
You prefer neat. But, you can
defy either. You're not
OCD at all.
For Michael's word list at Real Toads
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Wednesday, July 9, 2014
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About Me
- Maude Lynn
- Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days. ---Flannery O'Connor
18 comments:
There is a certain ritual feel to this, from the moons, but also from the catechism of self-inspection and detection--you shatter assumptions, plant a foot on the neck of obliviousness, and at the same time carve out a poem of singular(if acid) beauty. The list words disappear and illuminate only, just as they should. Excellent stuff.
I giggled when I read the first few words of the HedgeWitch's comment. I, too, think it sounds deliciously ritualistic: the structure, the rhythm, the movement from messy to tidy. I like it. A lot.
Oh my aching honesty! I believe this could be lodged in stone in so many lives!
Your obsessive compulsive is my orderly... I guess there will always be degrees of comparison to be sifted, along with the dust. This is a very interesting point of view.
This a nice "Dear Abby" poem, Mom Z.
I think I will post it on my refrigerator, then when I get to the last period, repeat again, "You're not OCD at all."
..
I can't say that I have much to say about OCD, given my lack of knowledge in this department. But I can relate to the sense of neatness and order. There is so much chaos all around us that these little tiny, orderly systems help create a peaceful and secure environment where we can retreat back to. But then, excess of anything is bad.
Oh, the accurate mirror you hold up to the giggling label of OCD. It's not a label to be claimed lightly.
School 'em, MZ.
I like the contradicting contradictions ~ Terrific response MZ ~
I'm confident I could give you my grocery list and you'd make magic, MZ.
Sharp eyed candor, the faintest hint of mockery of the pretensions of some self-diagnosed wanna-be. killer, and as Joy notes, the list disappears.
thanks for participating ~
this is wonderful, each stanza containing an image i love even more than the last. but "ground
yourself fine and sifted
the dust" ... oh my, fabulous.
This is alien territory for me I'm afraid. I am too far removed from just plain neat and tidy. Like tidy, but only if somebody else does the tidying.
Mental health consumer says: The OCD thing is thrown around a lot, you're so right. And the way you framed this "correction" with the myriad forms of OCD itself, painting a clear picture, is in itself amazing. Amy
…this is great!
You nailed this one ~ good and hard. Love it!
Anally retentive was a term thrown at those who liked order as well. Great use of the words.Seamless application.
oh, i've ritualed moons, all right. :)
We have this joke, I'm CDO...that like OCD, except with the letters put in the right order - alphabetical - as they should be.
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