"Wishing Against Reality" - AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY

Hey Everybody-

Thanks for being patient with me. Life's been happening and has been slowing be down on my blog game and unfortunately my book, too. Nonetheless, as promised, I want to post my commentary on a poem that I posted a few weeks ago. If you remember (and if you dont, just scroll down and act like you know - LOL), I added the disclaimer that that particular writing was probably the most abstract piece that I'd written in recent memory. I got a few comments from people and wanted to give some clarity about the poem and what message I was trying to get across.

So, let me try to break this thing down, stanza by stanza. The first stanza centers around someone who has come a long way, but still looks to their past. No matter how much progress has been made, a certain person, event, or something from this person's past is coming back to memory and is bigger and badder than it was when it all first went down. Now, I emphasize the possibilities of person, event, or something else because this piece was made to be relative to as many as possible in terms of separation and trying to move on and away from what/whoever it is for your own good.

The second stanza simply points to the lack of empathy from the person or persons involved in or around this reflection of thought. In my opinion, nothing can make a painful memory worse than knowing that there were people there, or at least in the "know", who weren't sympathetic or even empathetic to the negative feelings that came to pass. An even worse feeling is when those same people continue to move along as if nothing is wrong and the person affected can't determine whether or not they are oblivious or just callous, adding more fuel to the fire. Again, this piece can relate to you in a number of ways, focusing on the separation that can occur in several different areas. I'll assume that many will find value in the area of relationships, whether family or otherwise.

The final stanza is a review of how the person got to this point in the first place. More importantly, it revisits the effects of everything, carefully studying how everything could've played out differently and even where they themselves could've walked a totally different way. I try to round out the poem with self-discovery following these thoughts, acceptance that what's done is done, and the desire that many of us have to try to get a "do-over" and make it better the second time around. And that, my friends, is what this poem was about.

I tried very much to simplify my thoughts for you around this poem. Truth be told, the words that I just gave you probably don't do it justice, but in the interests of keeping your attention and not blogging you to death on this one, I did the best I could to keep it simple. If you feel that it is still too abstract, let me know and I'll talk with you directly. This poem was intended to be general, but I admit that it had some personal attachment (not TOO much ;-)). Anyway, I will be posting another blog soon, hopefully with a poem (pleeeeese, believe me this time). Break time's over and I'm ready to work. Get at me, people. Thanks again for visiting me!

-W.A. Gordon