If

I don’t think it’s absurd
If I could be like a bird,
And fly whenever I wanted to.
If I had at least one wish,
Some people would be a fish
And grow old in a big pond.
If I was scared with fear,
I’d turn and run like a deer
And then be safe again.
If I liked to feel the sunshine,
I’d be a flower at the time.
People would be happy to see me.

Newsletter for the World of Words by Elias Tobias

Relationships between people can become confused with rules and expectations.  A movie I saw on TV recently reminded me of how tolerate some places and people can be.  In the movie, a daughter of an  man who edits for an influential publishing company living her “lower” life of a counselor for a non-profit. Her not so good of a husband material guy gets her pregnant.  She decides to keep the child, and a young gay man agrees to help raise the child.  By the end of the movie, a five-year-old girl has a real father, three gay “uncles”, and the main male caregiver living with the mother is an Afro-American policeman who is a friend of the real father, and they all live happily ever after.  Sound complicated?  So images moved around my head, and a week or so later, here’s what I wrote.
     I know the poem can be interpreted many ways, and that’s good.  It’s not just a response to a movie I saw.

  Poem of the Month

I’m not supposed to love you

I’m not supposed to love you,
At least the way that I do.
You are a friend to me,
But there is more to see.
I don’t know how long
I have felt this way,
But I know the feelings
I have are here to stay.
It’s more than something physical,
since you are always on my mind.
Your smile comforts me.
Your love is so fine.
We’re not suppose to be together,
But I can’t see us growing apart.
You are an important person
To me and my heart.

     I believe that an effective poet, one that makes an impression of people, is a minister of words.  Basic thoughts, feelings and emotions that people have are reflected in the poet’s words, no matter what the language is. It’s not quite a religion or anything.
     I have played several roles in my life … a teacher, journalist, photograper, businessman. I try to be optimistic about life, and that theme runs throught the selection of stories I choose as an editor for the business journal I create every week.  I can add another title.  Although raised a Methodist,on June 2, 1993,I became a minister of the Universal Life Church.  I have not had any church or related opportuniites yet in my life.  I have not married anyone or performed other church services. For now I’ll be a minister of words.
     Happy Valentines Day! 

With the pressures to perform either within the family unit or at the workplace, sometimes the demands take their toll, and no pill can return us to the place or condition we were before the change. Sometimes writing a poem gets me going again when I feel a little flat…
Living and Breathing in 3D

I woke up one day in a different world
where everything was flat as paper,
and I had no control of my life.
I could not move a muscle until
someone else drew the next move,
not matter how slight it was.
I tried to talk, but no voice emerged.
When I finally did hear something,
it was no the old voice I had before.
The shadow on the wall, from the lamp
in the corner, was in two dimensions,
and it almost looked real.
I tried to feel my heartbeat, but I
was not sure if that is what it was.
It could have been some sound effect
crated by a smart computer technician.
My mind and body were working, to a point,
but I felt as if I have lost my soul.
Someone else was doing the living for me.

What was even stranger was that I was
not the only one around since I saw
others just like me finding their identity,
and some of them were people I remember.
Suddenly my lungs filled with air, and
I was breathing on my own.  Then my
legs and fingers started to move when
I wanted them to. I was regaining control.
Then I remembered someone saying the past
and the future are just an illusion, and
the present is the only time we have to live,
and have a effect on what will hapen next.
We can try to avoid the mistakes from the
past,and anticipate the future, they said.
I want to change the lives of those I saW.
Now I am living and breathing in 3-D.