individualism

Two's a crowd

never been good in crowds

didn't have the feel for that 
collective rush
felt more like...
dying
to tell the
truth
 
I recall once
an icy cold 
winters day
the kids huddled
round the
schools front door
trying to
get out of 
the bitter winds
 
the door is locked I
have no idea what the
adults were thinking 
(maybe they 
we're in their
own crowd)
unaware
it was the coldest day
of the year
 
what I remember was
the kids knocking
pounding kicking
at the door
pressing
straining in
as one
 
let us in
someone said
immediately
others joined the
chorus yeah 
let us 
in
 
then someone shouted
we don't need no
and unorchestrated the
crowd 
took up the re-frain 
education
that was it the
spark that started the
transformation
 
me I 
didn't know the 
song not
back then 
anyway but my body
has never forgotten 
hey there teacher's leave 
those kids
alone
 
never been the same since
feeling the press the
weight of the masses of
parka'd bodies
synchronizing according to
some for me
unknown harmony
a terrifying unity of
dissent 
 
and here
a generation later
at the
top of the
world you
tell me you want
t(w)o feel
needed and I feel
it again that old
tightening of the
chest
 
Me I'm 
thinking I
love U I
want U but
there ain't no
way I   'm 
ever gonna let
myself need
You I('ve)
been working 
half my life to
avoid losing my-
self
again
 
so here we
are in this
existential
stand-off 
with our incommensurable
compromises
backs up
against the
proverbial wall 
of our
necessity as 
it were 
 
a candle 
between us a
fire 
in the hearth against
the winters
wwrath we
negotiate the
human con-
dition 
 
I lift my
glass t(w)o the
too of us
no longer quite
alone
on this the
coldest night
of the
year
 
View karlmcallister's Full Portfolio

"Snowflakey"

Author's Notes/Comments: 

2017 

View daddyo's Full Portfolio

The Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Clan

Author's Notes/Comments: 

This poem is meant to represent the idea of an authority tell people who they are and who they should be, and punishing people for exploring and embracing their individualism. Although the Vanilla Bean Queen refuses to let you see the true of herself directly, the true of her is nonetheless exposed through her actions (i.e., "I SEE YOU").