Tuesday 2pm

I live in a Christian based retirement community which hosts a biweekly writers gathering. Here is my report:

We two the newest
Shirley and I
Joined this biweekly meet
Of writers

An aged assembly
A coven of Christ
They clutch their faith so tight
Tied about with scripture
And prayer
And write of nothing else

Shirley offers relief
From the plague of piety
Reads aloud her latest children’s story
Always a delight of creativity

Myself
I write of wreck and ruin
Of cars and marriages
The longing for lost love
The pain of addiction

I write of real life
But dare not share with this community
I cloak myself with secrets
Write them shiny faced ditties
Scrubbed behind the ears

They seem to like it

Reviews

[Buddhistboy73]

Nice work Michael...

I feel your pain man....to be in such an environment with what you have experienced.....

This poem is heartfelt and direct....and I can relate my WC friend...

I liked these lines:

I write of real life
But dare not share with this community
I cloak myself with secrets
Write them shiny faced ditties
Scrubbed behind the ears

They seem to like it

BB73

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[Desert Knave]

The occasional shiny-faced-ditty is "cleansing', but, yeah, writing groups can be kind of suffocating to the outsider. ~Jim

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Jim

[Randall]

Michael, sometimes it is nice to live in a community where everyone thinks the same. It is funny, you can cloak yourself with shiny faced ditties. Becareful you to never show them your other writings. They may be the same type of people who took Stephen the Innocent from the Temple and stoned him. Just make sure they are not carrying any stones in their pockets, and you should be okay. I like this one, Michael. You are a man of peace.

Randall...

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Randall. I’ll watch for those stones.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

As Rick Nelson sang, "You can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself"-- I think if we do that, others will be more pleased with our honesty.
I love this piece.
j.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Jacob, your reading and reviewing means a lot to me. Many of the residents here where I live are Christian fundamentalists, as is management. My own spirituality crosses the lines of various religions. While management is, by law, forbidden to discriminate based upon religion, my own beliefs, if voiced freely, would threaten enough people here to possibly cause me BIG problems.

[Gee]

Would they frown upon your life before meeting them? Strange as I thought all religions were forgiving, welcoming annnnnd very rich:)
Enjoyed your words

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Gee.

[Chris Shaw]

Variety makes the world go round but maybe in specific surroundings, I can understand the need to hold back a bit. Very relatable Michael, I don’t post all I have written. Plague of piety, I smiled at that. Shirley sounds a blessing. Have a good weekend.

Chris

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Chris. I do post here in the Cafe pretty much everything I write. It’s a great community and I find it a blessing to communicate with other writers from around the world.

[Soren]

Others do not often understand and we need to keep certain things to ourselves if we wish to fit in. This poem speaks to this. Very nicely written it feels real and most relatable.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thank you Soren.

[Soren]

You are most welcome

[FlatDaddy]

Michael, this is a well written testament to our world -- or at least a scrap of it -- and so well done. I loved the ending but yearned for you to leave the crowd with some blast from the streets of Minneapolis, or Ukraine. But it is understandable -- and kind (perhaps not?) that you left it the way you did.
Not trying to drum up business for myself, but you might like my piece for your crowd, "Ode to Blue-Haired Ladies."

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thanks for the review. I’ll locate your piece.

[Thomas W Case]

There’s a quiet rebellion under your collar—ink that wants to bleed, not behave.
You sit among hymns with a pocketful of wreckage, polishing truth just enough to pass.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Thanks Thomas, interesting review, very.