Interactive Social Network with hours of Visual Poetry for YOU to enjoy for FREE. http://www.poetryvisualized.com The Domestic Debate By Reid Baer The focus group facilitator said “lie” was too strong a word and turned the folks against the user She convinced me I was the abuser in our marriage I was poor and pretty girls deserve better After the divorce I discover ten years later she had - with another man - been cheating on us With all this disastrous and appalling fuss - what do you think I should call my ex “disingenuous?” -- http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2954/WHO_IS_CHEATING?/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2954/WHO_IS_CHEATING?/ The Domestic Debate By Reid Baer The focus group facilitator said “lie” was too strong a word and turned the folks against the user She convinced me I was the abuser in our marriage I was poor and pretty girls deserve better After the divorce I discover ten years later she had - with another man - been cheating on us With all this disastrous and appalling fuss - what do you think I should call my ex “disingenuous?” http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2854/The_Domestic_Debate/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2854/The_Domestic_Debate/ Father and sons http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2695/Cant_You_See?/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2695/Cant_You_See?/ Not just a game (a test of patience, skill, a chance for us to scratch our heads and rap our fingers) It was fun. Oh what a thrill, surprised and satisfied, to hear that snap. No competition here and nothing scored I offered you an edge to fill a gap. I didn't want to think I'd been ignored. A few I tried to force in with a tap. The picture's incomplete. Did you get bored? Lose interest in the helpful clues I tossed? At first I didn't want to think you'd hoard the ones I sought. I know they're hidden, lost. Yup, you're not here for me and I concede I'll never have the pieces that you need. http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2106/5000_PIECES/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2106/5000_PIECES/ A blind man told me what he thought of sight. �As if you open up a Russian doll and place each front to back. If you have light, the near one's big. The farthest one is small." We learn from decibels, from rods and cones, from sour, sweet and rough and smooth. Begin from heat and cold, from pheromones to recreate the outer world within. So YOU know ME. You've got a lot of nerve. You THINK you know me. You don't have a clue. It's clear you never listen or observe. The me inside you isn't me, it's YOU. I hope some day you'll see why I won't stay. Watch me get smaller as I walk away. http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2096/GETTING_PERSPECTIVE/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2096/GETTING_PERSPECTIVE/ Once more. Please notice how I keep it taut by only letting out a bit. So try to keep it high enough. Then, once it's caught, let go. I'm certain we can make this fly and once we get it up you'll see how long the tail is. Sunshine makes the panels glow. Don't stand there! Come on! Run! The breeze is strong. You changed your mind? You could have told me so. 'Cause I'm prepared to fix a flimsy frame or untie knots, face winds that gust or shift and I'm not here to play the game called "BLAME" but I can't do this if you let it drift or drop the spool. Oh hell! Just cut it free. It can't fly if you don't believe in me. http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2095/GO_FLY_A_KITE/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2095/GO_FLY_A_KITE/ For all the times I made you ill at ease, for all the times I showed up unannounced, for all the foolish things I did to please you, all those times you felt your boundaries trounced, I want to thank you all. You were so kind. You tried to firmly stop me at the start. You showed how much you cared as you declined to match my efforts, take my willing heart. You would not let me cheat myself, divert you efforts that I sought to misconstrue. So easily you could have used or hurt me. (You know I'd have let you do it too) For stares, unwanted words, my many tries at closeness, I hereby apologize. http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2048/TO_YOU__PLURAL/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2048/TO_YOU__PLURAL/ To search one's heart is not an easy task. I took a stand on what I still assert. I must do this. I can't do what you ask, not even if you make yourself be hurt. Yet each complaint still breaks me down again. You catalogue each sacrifice you've done. Your pleas show so much fondness through the pain. Why do they all assume on my part none? The more you call me stubborn when we fight, the more you tell me your love I repel, the harder it is for me not to write as if it's true, when I would wish you well. You tell me how you suffer, and you do. yet sometime you might see I suffer too. http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2045/TO_SEARCH_ONES_HEART_IS_NOT_AN_EASY_TASK/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2045/TO_SEARCH_ONES_HEART_IS_NOT_AN_EASY_TASK/ I stared and thought, �How small, how strange, how plain." Details my memory knew so well and took so often, never stopping to retain. I felt a fool and yet I had to look. What I beheld I once held constantly. I guarded, trusted, valued nothing more. So what was most surprising was for me to see, as if I'd never seen before. Just so it was when I was months abroad a fellow Yankee flashed at me a "buck." I sat dumbfounded, reassured, yet awed. Just so last night, well-healed I thought, ill-luck stuck you before my eyes. Too shocked for pain I stared and thought, �How small, how strange, how plain." http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2028/TENDER/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2028/TENDER/ I'm not sure you'll get this. I'm not sure I care. As if you care! Who knows! This is just to tell you that I broke that dish You gave me years ago. I'm sure you know the one. How strange. Looking down I saw a piece in each hand. I was just washing it And thinking of you. God, I lugged that thing around. Displayed it. Hid it. Lent it. Retrieved it. Thought they'd put it in my grave! So now it's gone. Dumped in the trash. And someday I'll forget it. And you. Oh, I forgot! Before I threw it out I put it in a sack And smashed it to bits. http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2011/THE_SALOME_PLATTER/ http://www.poetryvisualized.com/media/2011/THE_SALOME_PLATTER/