Thursday, December 1, 2011

Hiding in Plain Sight II

By Joseph Hesch

I have reached a point at the final crest
of this autobiographic thrill ride,
before the long slow descent to its end,
where I can look back and see
how much of it I’ve missed
by being the close-eyed loner in this seat,
the dust-shrouded outsider,
the look-no-hands clown,
the genderless confidant. 
I realize my pioneering work in camouflaged,
hide-in-plain-sight isolationism
is today’s normal.
And all the other seats appear empty.

These new virtual hermits  
live in their in their cars and cubicles,
behind desks and counters,
and under the covers in thrall of TVs,
computers and smartphones. 
They hide behind avatars, masks and
sullen defenses so the real them
is kept undiscovered –-
a secret for their eyes only. 
If they even open them.

Now on my downhill glide, I’ve started to knock
some of those defenses down – my own and others.
Even if I never make that ultimate connection,
warm form to warm form,
I think the ride will be pretty splendid
in its own right, the bandwidth wind in my hair.
Of course, my greatest fear in this quest
is that I really am alone in this world
of click-to-connect friendships. 
Or worse, I’m just naïve enough
to think I'm not.


12 comments:

  1. You are not naive, Joe...some of the relationships I've made online are meaningful & life changing. Certainly more than I ever thought possible. Wonderful, thoughtful writing that I'm proud to have inspired. xo

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  2. smiles...i have found some rather meaningful relationships online...some of my best friends actually...we do need to balance it with flesh and blood though...

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  3. we are all alone, we are all together.
    hope vs. reality.
    the older i get, the more i learn to love humanity. individually and collectively.
    and i'll take naivete over bitterness any day.

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  4. I really like this section:

    "Even if I never make that ultimate connection,
    warm form to warm form,
    I think the ride will be pretty splendid
    in its own right, the bandwidth wind in my hair."

    And "different" does not have to equal "alone." Making poetic connections online definitely fills a need. But yes, warm bodies and real-life conversation and commiseration are also needed. :)

    iamthat-shawna.blogspot.com

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  5. I love this. Poignant for a number of reasons to me personally. Great job!

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  6. I like hiding in plain sight..ha..ha..but I do find that my "real self" comes out anyway in my words. I do like seeing the real faces of the bloggers in icons so I appreciate the hands of friendship I have enjoyed here and everywhere.

    Thanks for sharing your heartfelt words. I follow your lead in writing as much as I can for your words are meaningful to me.

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  7. *smiles* Love it! They try to tell us online is meaningless but it's not! Love the image of bandwidth wind in your hair :)

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  8. not naive at all my friend... i found people on the net i wouldn't want to miss anymore.. love the bandwidth wind in my hair..ha it's a great ride..

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  9. I've tried to be transparent - does that mean you can't see through me? I said yesterday I feel I live in two separate universes - straddling them - (makes you feel like superwoman) - I know the people here are real for I am brave and I have met them; I met Claudia (and Anton G.)in London at the pub pictured on the dVersePoets header, I met Robin Dalton at the National Gallery where we saw the Book of the Dead exhibit and had lunch in the new restaurant, I met a twitter friend who'd moved from Dundee Scotland to Dallas and we went to the Dallas Arts festival and feasted on art.

    This is not nebulous for me but it takes acts of courage. I met a famous actress, the first to follow my blog; she was warned I could be a stalker. She came in city clothes and became invisible as I searched to find her at the food court of the V&A. We connected at once when I did, picking up the threads of the conversations we'd begun online.

    Nevertheless, the out of body experience leaves you more in awe of the power of mind and language. I never fail to appreciate the gift of speech - spoken or written, and am thankful for it every single day.

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  10. PS - clearly I appreciated the poem. It also transcended the experience of writing poetry in a whole new world.

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  11. Wonderful, Joe! This is a different world that I'm so glad I've entered. My intent was not to make friends (thought everyone would be a serial killer), but just to be able to express some feelings in an uninhibited way. However, I've met friends and been given endless encouragement...my life enriched!!

    Thank you for writing this! Oh, I just love 'bandwidth in my hair.'
    -Eva

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  12. Beautiful and honest... how all the best things should be

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