Of mouse and man

- People are afraid to look into the "mirror". They are unwilling to accept the flaws that form a part of who they are. - said I.
- It is one thing to look in the mirror and it is another to run around stark naked thru the streets publishing to the world your mistakes and life blunders. - said He.
- If you are comfortable with what you see in the mirror, then where is the shame in parading the streets in your birthday suit? - inquired I.
- Why do you want to publish your vulnerabilities to the world? - asked He.
- Who is to say they are vulnerabilities? If people are uncomfortable seeing me prance around in the nude it is because they are uncomfortable seeing in me that which they try so hard to hide. - replied I.
- People will learn more about you than you would like them too and they will use it against you. - said He.
- So I should go on living shielding myself from the same life I endeavour to live? - inquired I.
- If you choose the live life recklessly you will lose in the end. - concluded he.
- Indeed. Life will be the death of me. - said I
- And it would be best that before that happened I made sure I did not live so terrified of life that I let death sneak up on me. - continued I.
- What does the magic mirror on the wall tell you? - asked He.
- Whatever I tell it to. - said I.
- You mean to say you have no flaws? - asked He.
- Ha! - laughed I
- Quite to the contrary. I am only too aware of my many flaws. It is the fact that I am able to accept them into my life rather than live in denial that allows me to wear most of them on my sleeve as opposed to living in shame. - clarified I.
- Most of them? - prodded He
- Yes. While I am not afraid to look into the proverbial mirror of life, and do not have a problem with what looks back at me, there are always certain "blemishes" which I could do without, but they are not so overwhelming that I must look away. In fact they are reason for me to stare more focusedly to understand and work through the problematic blemishes fully, to the point where I learn to be comfortable with them. It is always a work in progress; you just got to keep going at it. - said I
- "Poop" is a palindrome - said He.
- "So cats eat staccato tacos?" is not a palindrome - said I
- What is that? - a half palindrome, half anagram? Is that a palangram? - asked He
- I don't know. Its either a palangram or an analindrome, but I think palangram sounds better. - said I
- Touché - concluded He.

A Strangely Isolated Place [New York]

I've debated in simple thoughts; observations.
I've walked, they've laded.
I've found each time they were so unrelated.

You're so stiff and you're always waiting
Trying me with your million eyes
Focusing and refocusing -- I can't escape it.

'Cause I know once I'm in I'm gone
And if you think any different then you're just wrong,
Because you are me - we are you; you see?

And your cold stone and steel underbelly
With its steam vents for pores however unreal
Oxidizes this nervous road so never ending.

Why on Earth won't you ever sleep?
The onslaught of looming thought,
Your endless days must surely make you weep.
Yet I have never seen you weak,
Nor for that matter meek.
And although its no charge
To the funds you must reap,
Every shepherd you've had
Seems no more than sheep.

I've been here, for I know I've seen it before.
Just one year previous I stood at your door
Pleading for an answer to what its all for.

Hoping at last to settle the score;
To leave you drunk and defeated - a miserable heap on the floor
And I can't help but feel tables shifting once more.

-- Brendan Russell '06--