Zoom
It’s wonderful that we having our roving poet who identifies something in the city of Adelaide that relates to the topic of the night. I feel the word zoom was inspired by the city lights and traffic ‘zooming’ past. Ironically, the poetry group is conducted on zoom. It is most definitely a word that conjured up many deep expressions about personal painful experiences in life, as well as some very fun and joyful things. Once again, amazing where a word takes us… And the roving ‘zoomed’ in on lots of different things…
Zoom
Excitement in the household
A puppy has arrived
Never another dog they said
What do we do, it’s all so new
He is such a scallywag
When he scoots from room to room
A young family member
Decides his name is Zoom
His sister, Reme, visits often
She is such a lady,
So delicate and refined
Now Zoom on the other hand
Has ideas of another kind
He zooms here, he zooms there
She sticks her nose in the air
How horrid to be like that!
Quietly, can’t wait to come back
She enjoys his cheeky company
At all times keeps her dignity
A day they have had like no other
After all, he is HER brother
Reme, absorbing the day
Zoom exhausted, Phew!
CCon 8th October 2021
Zoom
This is the turn I had to take
It is my new beginning
My emotions strumming
I feel I don’t belong
I’m ready to sing my own song
I know there is no turning back.
Like being a little boy again
When in my sleep I would be flying
Excitement fear and joy
Swooping falling rising
Up above the world soaring
People below calling
Pleading for me to return
Shouting to come back.
I would laugh and zoom away
High into the clouds to my hideaway
To live in the lightness of my freedom.
These childhood dreams return
It’s time for me to sing my new song
Excitement fear and joy
Swooping falling rising.
My heart pounds with a stronger beat
My lungs breathe a deeper breath
The stomach no longer hungers
For the mind to feed its desires.
Four portals for my existence
Open before me for a decision
To my left is the past
In the middle is the now
The future on my right
Beneath them floating
The portal of mystery.
Written above each mantle
Can be read a warning sign
“Enter here. No return.”
Excitement fear and joy
Swooping falling rising.
I zoom into the portal of mystery,
To live forever in the lightness of my freedom.
PJR 11.10.2021
Zooming past
Trains cars planes zoom past
To their destination
On the go
The fast flow
Consuming using
It’s all about me
My wants my pleasure
Is all i see…
Not a thought
to my extraction
From this earth
For my satisfaction
Life as a flash
Zooming past before our eyes
Hardly seeing or noticing
The destruction the demise
Until totally leached
viral spike emerges
And universal chaos
Diverges
The pain is the common
Now Knocking at our doors
Scurrying to tackle
The endless flaws…
Now travel, the shopping,
The communication, the work,
The bills, the connection,
Food warmth and shelter
the talk
Yet for some there’s advantage,
Inequities continue
Zoom shares rise with usage rife –
Many others however in incredible strife
So, what have we learnt
Caring and sharing they say
Although no-one prepared
to lessen their pay
House price increase,
Share market vulnerable too,
More lives being fleeced
System changes: long overdue
So, what can we do?
To lessen the pace
And think more about
the human race
No more zooming here and there
Rather taking a moment
To Breathe in the fresh air
And truly show you care
TLab 11th October 21
Zoom
People zoom along each day,
whether to work or at play.
Traffic zooms to and fro
racing each other, having somewhere to go.
Watching clouds zoom across the sky
watching different shapes before our eyes.
Birds fly here and there,
zooming, zooming everywhere.
Into Paul’s for a sing along
An hour passes so quickly as we sing each song.
LMol 8th October 2021
Zoom – The hierarchical facade
Introduction: For many, zoom maybe associated with video meetings…
However for me this word brought back other memories
Zooming in or magnifying the worst of others, and lifting themselves on that tide…
After each interaction with other family members or friends
The review and replay to judge, criticise and denigrate never ends
It is often followed by their elevation
Believing that they are so much better than the rest of the nation
This habit of denigration
Followed by elevation
In zooming in on the imperfection
Reinforcing the ‘perfect’ self-perception
This zooming-in was not just for outsiders to the home
It was also particularly aimed at me alone
Even though I had a younger sister and a brother older
My own treatment and standing was very much colder
So I hated myself for all of who I was
I laid awake most nights reliving the past
Wishing I had done what was expected
And telling myself to try harder to be respected
Whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner
Their talk was all about being a winner
Being tall, good looking or ’successful’
But not so much as to make them appear less ‘special’
When I was compliant and did not overstep my place
I was picked-on less and even got some praise
But it was not really me and I found it so hard
To continually keep up this hierarchical facade
To not be myself
To be put down
Humiliated in public
This became my renown
When less compliant I was painted as being rude
It was my duty to meet their requirements construed
Any time I did not, was a sign disrespect
Not following the pattern would bring much regret
Eventually, I fell so bad, I went to get some help
Group therapy, I joined, and right it felt
I learnt how to bring true caring and love
For myself, others and the stars above
I had struggled to realise how to express
My feelings from the deep, without being less
To realise that love and like are different
And liking myself would be my ascent
With this new learning
I went back to them expressing
My feelings and wants
My cans and cants
Initially this was greeted with a lot less condescending
Even patience, renewal and a little comprehending
Very soon though, it was ‘are you better yet’
As they wanted to get back to the ‘normal’ life that they set
Of course with my growth and understanding
I realised that it was not their approval I was demanding
It was their recognition of me as an individual
The unique me surfacing – the true original
Alas, it was never to be
Repeat behaviours from before came back to hurt me
However this time I had a different start
The stronger beating of my own true heart
I knew that if I could not be accepted
As who I was with no conditions or being rejected
That I would not stay and remain a guard
Of this painful and hierarchical facade
When the time came I expressed so dearly
From the heart, came my feelings so clearly
It did not please them, that was no surprise
Even using all the guilts that they tried to reprise
Many calls and letters followed
To the extended family they bellowed
Of my disloyalty, disrespect and stubbornness
At my grandmother’s funeral they all shunned me, no less
Designed to make me capitulate
I realised that my life was for me to create
I no longer needed approval from them
It was from my heart that my worthiness would stem
So, this is not a total sad story for me
As I found and grew myself to be free
From the put downs and daily torment
To a life of smiles, happiness and fulfilment
It has not been easy to get here
I had to let go of some other relationships with care
I now practice living authentically
And experiencing all that is being me.
NRS 8th October 2021