MY HOMAGE TO THE AOL JOURNAL COMMUNITY

Taking the idea from Theresa Williams` Journal,{http://journals.aol.com/theresarrt7/TheresaWilliams-author/entries/933} I`ve decided to leave an entry that reflects the sadness that I feel about watching the diaspora of the AOL community. This is the poem I wrote as an homage to the AOL-J community on our 1st Anniversary; it continues to reflect my feelings towards all who have had the courage to share their lives and souls with me. Love and Prayers. V    

 

 

 

  

"Metamorphosis"

The tiny worm hatches,
searches the net for sustenance.
She feasts on Pogo
gapes at Google
plays with Pics,
Windows Media offers refreshment,
but she`s still a worm.


How can she grow
find the cerebral food
to become a caterpillar?

Aloneness continues,
her only friends are Amazon and .coms
trying to sell her a soul.


She inches upward to Hometown
tastes a web page
and sees a friendly face
beckoning her to AOL journals.

Tentatively, she enters this strange world,
Butterflies are everywhere!
life is there to taste; prose, poetry, paintings,
the sharing of souls, of heartbreak and love.


She devours everything in sight, grows and grows
A fine caterpillar she is
having feasted on the butterflies` glorious wares.


Ah! It is time to rest
she spins a cocoon around herself
and sleeps in wonder.


Can I be a butterfly too?
can I be as pretty
as the wonderful Monarchs
of Journal-land?


She emerges from camouflage,
mothlike, she says hello,
and is welcomed by many others
Floating and flitting
touching her little nest.


She grows bolder, ponderously taking flight
and finds no judgement of her faltering attempts,
only encouragement, and love!


She becomes a butterfly,
offering what she can
to other, newer caterpillars
finding a butterfly`s true nature
the metamorphosis complete.


Vince Deabler  

Here`s my new site!
http://deabvt.blogspot.com/

THIS
SPACE
FOR RENT
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

" Bright Lights "

Bright lights,

the bathroom seems

illuminated.

The little boy`s dread

seems to heighten

his senses.

 

Confused, alone,

he faces the babysitter

who draws him to her.

The sadness that lives

within her

coils, strikes,

triumphs.

 

V

c 2005   Deabler, V.T.

" Survey Like None-Other "

The goal is to have this in every single AOL Journal. What do you have in common with others? Do you like the same things? Post this and put the title of your entry "Survey Like None-Other!"  This is a great way to introduce yourself to new readers!  

1. What sign are you?  Libra

2. What is your favorite color?  Blue

3. How many waffles could you eat in one sitting?  Er, three?

4. Can you touch your tongue to your nose?  Nope

5. If you had to choose between cats and dogs, which would it be?  Cats

6. What is something you have learned recently? From Ckays1967, Forgiveness comes before acceptance.

7. What is your favorite quote?  That`s easy; "To Grow Is To Be Anxious".

8. What is your favorite entry in your own journal? One of the poems, I guess.

9. What color is your bedroom? Cream walls?

10. Where is your favorite place to visit?   Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Phila Eagles.

11. What is one thing you want to accomplish this year? Get an agent for my 1st book and submit poetry for publication.

12. Why do you write in a journal?  I must.

13. What is your favorite joke? TOS!  AOL TOS!

14. Do you like the city or the country? I like to visit the country but I`m a city person.

15. What style is your house decorated?   You got me!

16. Who is your favorite artist? Taking ckays advice, I`ll limit it to deceased artists!  Monet.

17. Can you pat your tummy and rub your head at the same time? Yep!

18. Are you a night owl? Naw, I`m up at 5.00 AM every day, checkin` in with aynetal3.

19. What is something you love in your house? (If you have a picture you get extra credit!) My Mom & I, just before she died.

20. Do you believe in God?   Absolutely.

21. What hobby could you never give up? Writing.

22. What color makes you think of Hope? White

23. What color makes you think of Love? Green

24. What is your favorite flower? A rose.

25. If you had one wish for the world, what would it be?   Forgiveness.

26. Whats the best surprise you have ever recieved? Still waiting, a grandchild [but I`m getting closer!]

27. What can you cook like no-one else? Asaopao con pollo.

28. What do you think about most? Death & Immortality and the courage to confront it. {As a concept, LOL.}

29. Who is your favorite poet? Emily Dickinson &, in Aol, ckays1967.

30. And last but not least, if you could wrap yourself up in one word...what would that word be? Inquisitive.

Thanks, Christina. This is the first one of these I`ve ever done! I pass this on to commenters!

V

WOMEN AND MEN

  In my earlier years as a Psychologist, I had extensive experience with psychological testing, much more so than the typical psychologist`s practice. I was fortunate to have a world renowned teacher, Dr. Zygmunt Piotrowski. He was an expert on the Rorschach test and always taught that one could not consider themself fully competent until they could do "blind" Rorschach analysis; that is, analyze the data with no information about the subject other than sex and age.

 Over the course of a few years, I supervised the work of many interns and became comfortable in assisting their Rorschach analyses without knowledge of the patient. I can still remember my excitement being invited for the first time to perform a blind analysis for Doctoral students at a major university.

 All of this discussion is a prelude to the most important point that I have gleaned from these experiences. Men and Women are different! Boy, I put in a lot of work to understand something that most of my readers know by their lived experience.

 More formally, Piotrowski put primary emphasis on the "Experience Balance", that is, the relationship between an individual`s tendencies to experience life, to define themselves, through introversive or extratensive propensities. In other words, humans try to make sense of the world in some combination of internal thought and by the cues that the world offers them about themselves.

 In my experience, men and women differ significantly on the experience balance, although with a huge overlap. The key word here is tendency.

 Men tend to order their world by internal dialogue; women tend to evaluate themselves by their relationship to others and to the world around them. It`s no wonder that the sexes often have such difficulty in communication over important agendas!

 Men tend to scoff at the idea of intuition, women tend to get frustrated at their mates inability to verbally express their feelings. For men, logic prevails, even if illogical; for women verbal expression is a natural extension of their womenness.

 I must admit, as a male, it took me half of my life to value intuition as highly as logic.

V

Here is a poem of mine that addresses one side of the issue!

 " INTUITION "

ONE`S NATURE

Born in late winter

I peeked at March`s

roaring lion.

 

Some friends showed

an inkling, a budding

the adventurous ones.

 

My Mother, feeding me,

whispered

"Nature is always such,

sentinels must be sacrificed.

The Goddess Hera demands

payment for Her warmth."

 

I close my eyes

`til showers come,

my Mother`s milk is flowing,

pouring into me.

 

Then I stand,

prideful and strong,

my family branch

a bloom of green.

 

Birds alit,

butterflies aflutter.

I find myself smiling

as my nature

reveals itself.

 

V

 

C 2005  Deabler, V.T.