On Halloween, we become walking metaphors…
We’re quite aware of what we’re doing: by putting on a mask, we reveal some hidden aspect of ourselves.
We display our inner pirate, our inner goblin, our inner Dracula…
…while with our smiles we reassure the world: don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.
But though we joke about the Mr. Hyde that lurks beneath our Dr. Jekyll…
…perhaps we also want to tell people: don’t take me for granted. I’m much more than I appear to be.
Of course, we can also show the positive side of our shadow…
Klutzes can become ballerinas. Housecats can dress in tiger stripes….
Working-class guys and gals can wear crowns…
They wish to tell us they’re actually kings and queens. And who are we to disagree?
From hard experience, I’ve learned: you can never guess what’s inside another human being.
For that matter, I’m still learning what’s inside myself. In one dream, a polar bear followed me all around my apartment…
Finally, to get my attention, the creature took my hand, gently but firmly, in its mouth. When I awoke, I realized the bear was a part of me—a part I’d tried to ignore.
Like many on Halloween, I’ll be wearing my usual costume: my everyday clothes. The image I present to the world.
Those clothes do reveal something about who I am….
…yet leave so very much unsaid.
© 2014, Michael R. Patton
sky rope poetry
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About Michael Patton
I am a poet, novelist, and fabulist...A new mythologist, a peace miller, a dream worker...I don't qualify as an illustrator or photographer--I just "make pictures"...I have thirteen books available at amazon...
I currently reside in northwest Arkansas, but have lived and worked all over the United States...
I'm self-taught, for the most part--which is like searching for the right door in the dark. It's an on-going process....
I don't want to write MY story, I want OUR story, so that's what I'm studying: the human story: past, present, future, in its many aspects--including the spiritual. I'm proceeding at a slow crawl....
I don't see the inner world and outer world as separate. By learning about myself, I learn about others, I learn about my world....
Conversely, as I struggle to understand what I see OUT THERE, I learn about myself....
But to be clear: I don't claim any special understanding. I'm still purblind, still only half-awake....
After frustrating experience with the publisher of my first novel, I've published on my own, beginning with e-books, with plans to move into print and audio. Even video....
Along with a second novel, I've now published eight books of poetry. Each poetry book focuses on a theme. For instance, the collection GLORIOUS TEDIOUS TRANSFORMATION is about the slow difficult wonderful process of change....
In that book, as with all my work, I try to be accessible to a general audience, while also striving to achieve a certain literary quality.
Michael Patton
