The
Hoarder
Koan
You cannot solve me
with your mind.
Nor have I
any interest
in being solved.
My motto:
I will make everything mine.
I am ouroboros,
able to swallow
myself whole.
This is how
I keep my life
in place.
I am Sphinx,
inscrutable God
in perpetual hold.
I am koan.
You cannot fathom me.
Beneath and inside,
within and without;
my radius
is a burial ground
for unearthed treasure.
I measure myself
by antiquities,
regardless of my trail
of unexceptional
artifacts.
I need my sleep
to desire so much.
But I do
not sleep.
I am too hungry for
my next
acquisition.
On the surface
I appear as two orbs
but there is
so much more
to me.
I am both
above and below,
ascribing value
to everything
I see and touch.
My gaze
repeats a
mother's promise:
I will watch
over you.
I cocoon,
wrapping the world
in indiscriminate love
in order to
gently paralyze.
Quantum physics
tells me that
for every
anti-particle
there is a
particle,
plus one.
This imbalance is
ancient asymmetry
proving matter
will outlast us.
So too
the elements,
stars, solar systems,
planet Earth…
everything.
Now you know why
I must make
the world
my own.
March 4th, 2021
1 comment:
Peter, I just read your new poem. I love it. It is beautiful and very insightful. The mind, as we know, is powerful. One can’t help but wonder when and how did the hoarder’s way of thinking and being evolve? Was it always there but dormant and expressed in ways that fitted neatly within the norm and safely adhered to the social mores? If so, what triggered this shift in their expression of self, involving artifacts? This gets very psychologically intriguing with no clear cut road or pattern, since hoarding apparently has no barriers in regards to demographics, psychographics, financial status and intelligence levels. With that said, it could be disconcerting to acknowledge that the hoarder’s way of thinking and living could conceivably happen to anyone at anytime with no planned warnings, since the root cause is not definitive. In any event, it appears that once one has entered this world of obsessive, compulsive thinking and behaviors involving artifacts from a wide spectrum within no preconceived realm, which is so vividly described in your poem, the hoarder’s logic has no boundaries, akin to that of any true addiction. Thus, the hoarder’s logic actually begins to make sense. Albeit the clutter and debris, the effects, what the hoarder seeks and feels, are beauty, comfort, love, security and belonging. When you think about it, deep down, isn’t that what we all want from life? With your opening the door, we were able to take a glimpse into the hoarder’s inner and most private world. Looking in, one can’t help but see and feel the ever present intricate, complex, sensitive and psychological struggle which has become their norm. The effects of hoarding are not necessarily beautiful or pleasant in most people’s eyes, but, the cause, what the hoarder wants to accomplish has a term of endearment attached to it. Even if one does not condone or fully understand hoarding, after reading your poem, one is reminded that hoarders are still human beings and deserve the same love and respect that is openly and willingly given to others, even if their complex worlds are never fully understood, accepted or altered in any way. If, however, intervention is necessitated resulting from health and safety realities for the hoarder and quite possibly those around them, how is this accomplished in a humane, dignified and sensitive manner, since what the hoarder sees and feels is widely polarized in conjunction to what the outsider sees and feels. A true juxtaposition if ever there was one. Thus, having some understanding and insight into this complex world of the hoarder is key, which your eye opening and heart opening poem so aptly provides. Again, Peter, another beautiful poem focusing on another aspect of the human experience, which hopefully in turn, will muster more love, understanding and compassion for others, like and unlike ourselves. When it is all said and done, we are one within this vast universe and making a concerted effort to understand each other and live together in love and peace should always be actively and aggressively in the forefront of our existence. Bravo! ✍️👏
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