I've long thought that the pendulum is an apt symbol for life, how it describes, perhaps mockingly mimics, the swingings back and forth in life; feeling and thinking, losses and winnings, endings and beginnings, joys and sorrows.
Kay Redfield Jamison expresses it well: "We have then, within ourselves, the capacity for extremes that will serve us well on occasion and badly on others. These extremes encompass not only rage and aggression but sadness and ecstasy, inertia and frenzied states, dullness and exploration....". (Night Falls Fast, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1999, 178.)
I have considered my own experiences and those of others and express them here. The messages of my poems, and the writings of others included, reflect unsettled feelings. I hope by reading them you will gain and understanding of a process through which all humans go when trying to come to grips with loss and perhaps take heart that you are not alone when misfortune comes your way.
Consider the words of Maya Angelou: "On so many levels (poetry) strengthens a person. One thing it does is it tells the person that he or she is not out there alone; that there are other people who have felt that way and who are feeling that way. It takes away some of the bitterness of aloneness. We find that somebody(else) did love someone that much. Someone did feel that loss when he or she was exiled or abandoned".(Interview with Maya Angelou by Joe Burns, The Cape Codder, Orleans, MA, 2000.)
And consider a part of the message of Desiderata. "Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune." (Anonymous)
I have interspersed throughout this collection of poems and thoughts, excerpts from what I have found to be important writings of others to whom I have gone for insight during my own pendulum swings of life. I encourage you to read them in their entirety.
Tapping the Keg of Feelings, Imagination and Inspiration. Posts to this blog first appeared as poems and thoughts in The Poet and the Pendulum,@2001,Lee Neubert Lindeman, Lighthouse Keeper Publishing, Cape Cod, MA. That collection was originally intended to be a kind of memoir for my four sons and their families. I've been surprised and grateful that some of my offerings have touched others. That positive feedback encourages my staying around.
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- Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper
- Eastham, Cape Cod, MA, United States
- Retired CEO of an industrial company,now a work/life navigation career counselor and coach, I have enjoyed writing since my English major days at Amherst College. I self-published "The Poet and the Pendulum" in 2001, sixty some poems, rhymes and doggerels of my own. I decided to publish a blog after reading respected journalists likening blogs to pamphlets and papers published during the founding days of this country. I feel strongly the need for alternatives to the so-called main stream media, generally acknowledged and considered to have political leanings. MSM also can be influenced by big money and/or the need to maintain access to politicians; both behaviors usually resulting in the pulling of punches,and often asscociated with taking a dive for money, attributes of greed and cowardice. I am registered to vote, with no political affiliation. In MA there is no Independent category. I support individuals who are recognized as authorities on important issues, and definitely not simply because they happen to be, for a time, in positions of authority.
2 comments:
Advise when they are not yours, else I will be commenting in error on your nature.
Kat
Poetikat reminds me to advise when a poem I might post here is not one of mine. I suspect you could tell it twernt mine by the quality test, but I will so adivse if and when I put another's up.
I'm still wondering how it would work though. In the book format I used the work of others to introduce chapters. My Betsy made a number of drawings to introduce chapters as well. Posting them here would be somewhat out of context and likely not understood how they related to my poems. Hope this makes some sense.
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