“A misanthrope is a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society. Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behaviour or human nature.”
Over the past pandemic months I have been taking in zoom recovery meetings. Invariably some members share effusively how much they miss the face-to-face contact with other members, how much they appreciate seeing the familiar faces on their screen & they can’t wait for ‘real’ meetings to start up again.
I don’t miss any of that. As for familiar faces I minimize my zoom feed most of the time to audio only, to reduced the distraction of all those faces as they eat, drink, pick their noses, nervously flip their hair around, or, all to often, rub their faces in their pet’s fur. What’s wrong with me that I don’t feel this same emotional longing for folks?
So I looked up the meaning of misanthrope. but I neither dislike or avoid human society. I do enjoy my own company & don’t feel this emotional longing for group contact. But I don’t live alone, nor have I seen the lockdown as an excuse for not spending limited, face-to-face social distant time with friends in recovery. To be perfect freak, & shallow, what I miss about recovery meetings is the opportunity to wear a great shirt/tee-shirt to brighten the day for people.
What I don’t miss are colds & people thinking I am ‘weird’ because I refuse to join hands in closing a meeting.
Boundary
if I could change the boundary
of what you want
to what I have
then we might be on an equal footing
<>
your ideals are set too high
for anyone to approach
if you could see
beyond the narrow margin of victory
you demand
perhaps it would be possible
for you to vote me into power
<>
not that I want power over you
for long
forever would be fine
but if it doesn’t work
you can reassign the boundaries
to keep me out for good
but as it is
you keep in only what you want
to provide a tentative sense of security
<>
safety isn’t in walls or numbers
but to fearlessly let yourself be exposed
perhaps the natives
will not attack
maybe we will be the attackers
you only have energy to lose
and nothing to gain
<>
what is holding you back
from letting us swarm all over
the body politic
all over the sacred hidden territory
free yourself of these encumbrances
this sense of inviolate sacredness
that doesn’t allow for growth
only stern sameness
<>
surely you welcome change
or is it that you only welcome
change you can control
yet those boundaries
seem to change with each decision
letting this
disallowing that
<>
if the unwashed creep to close
push them away
draw that line in the sand
they roll around in
they won’t cross it
except with a finger or two
off with their hands
into their cups
down with their wants
up with your arms
shoot to thrill
missing isn’t half as bad
as a bullseye
even stray bullets can find a target
why bother aiming at all
the ballot awaits
your trigger finger
TOpoet 