From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=316">Satine</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

To Htismis :<BR>
<BR>
About  <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2001.08.08.21.26.23149">The Date</a> -  Woooaaah !!!<BR>
<BR>
I sense a cruel male attitude here  -  filled with lots of revenge and anger toward women !!!<BR>
<BR>
Are you really this way or just having fun with words?<BR>
<BR>
I do know some men with this attitude.<BR>
<BR>
Fortunately, I got them before they got to me !!!<BR>
<BR>
See, women can play the same game.<BR>
<BR>
As a matter of fact, this confession of yours was sooo good, that it prompted me to write a sequel, or should I say a counter attack.<BR>
<BR>
Hope you read it.<BR>
<BR>
It might be fun to see yourself in female form.<BR>
<BR>
Think I will title it :  "Poor Guys"  <BR>
<BR>
Hope you enjoy it, as much as I enjoyed your :<BR>
 <BR>
             <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2001.08.08.21.26.23149">The Date</a> <BR>
<BR>
Scarey thoughts, but excellent writing !!!<BR>
<BR>
I applaud you for being brave enough to expose yourself this way, and for warning women readers, that guys like you, do in fact exist, and prey upon hurting women!<BR>
<BR>
People get so uppity about battered women in a physical sense of being slapped around and beat up.  If only the truth be known, that mental abuse is far more harmful and painful, and takes so much longer to heal.<BR>
<BR>
You have captured mental abuse of women, so aptly in this writing, that I wonder if you might be a woman, telling what happened to you.<BR>
<BR>
Thanks for sharing !!!<BR>
<BR>
.<BR>
<BR>
 
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=316">Satine</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

To Hsitmis :<BR>
<BR>
Sorry, I spelled your name wrong above.<BR>
<BR>
Its a difficult one to remember.<BR>
<BR>
.
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=34">Just Some Girl</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Unchained~ I enjoy your writing. It seems very insightful! 
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=48">Laurel Ahlfeld</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

~*~Harem~*~ Your kind words were very appreciated!! I was a little iffy of whether or not to post that one, since it was a little bit out of the norm for me, but you've encouraged me to keep at it! Thank you again!! It means the world for me to hear something like that from a writer I look up to soooo much.<BR>
love always,<BR>
Laurel
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=4">TJ Holland</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Satine ~ I know how you feel...about the reaction to Hsitmis' poem, "The Date". I feel angry and hurt alll over again when I start to think about the times a guy has been that way with me. But I think it's really important to remember that everything a poet writes is not about themselves. He/she did a great job of exposing the strong feelings in yourself about this issue, but ask first, is he/she a male or a female?? Is he/she writing about themselves?? I mean, is "The Date- Poor Guys" all about you? Have you behaved this way? If so, well, I guess you can't really come down on anyone else for doing it too. And if not, you did a GREAT job of convincing me the poem was about you, the author! (just like Hsitmis did with you! Hehehehe!!) So, anyway, you see my point? (Oh, and keep up the good work, I loved BOTH yours and Hsitmis' poems!)<BR>
<BR>
-Teej 
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=313">Blue Angel</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

I have enjoyed reading the exchanges that were prompted by Hsitmis's The Date and Satine's The Date-Poor Guys. The interesting thing about the types of people described in these two works is that very often, there is no stream of consciousness propelling them to do the deeds of deception. They just do it! They are very often seeking to fill big, gapping voids in self-confidence.<BR>
<BR>
And they are the ones that are hurting, I have found. Pathetic but true. But what an interesting interpretation!! <BR>
<BR>
I concur with the suspicion that Hsitmis is really the sufferer of a broken heart and not a heart-breaker!!
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=10">Galadrial</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Terry...<BR>
<BR>
             More than tender...exquisite.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Tanq...<BR>
<BR>
             What you packed into this one left this little halfling just about breathless...Bravo!   <BR>
<BR>
<BR>
                                              Gala
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=179">aqua_lady</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Harem, Thank you for your comments. I am sorry for the delayed responce, but I had not even looked on the board and a friend told me about them. I agree that the true opposite of love is apathy, but as you said, apathy is the absence of emotion toward someone. In my case..there is not that absence, but a need ot transfer this "love" into something a little more self-preserving. One day....blessed apathy will replace the hate, but until then....I take what I can get. The one thing that truley "saved" me this time with this man, was that I knew deep down it was just a game, and that all of his passionate declarations were just a means to his own ends. So I chose to play the "game" and didn't try to make it more than it truley was. <BR>
<BR>
Aqua_lady
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=308">tandafire</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Misty - I loved "eskimo pie commercial".<BR>
<BR>
..."my life lacks the luster you so ardently seek..."  How true those words are in my case.  <BR>
<BR>
There are many wonderful things on this board, I don't feel worthy!  I'm off to indulge in a bit more reading before the evening rush...
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=308">tandafire</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Whoops, sorry Misty - <BR>
<BR>
"my life lacks the glamour you so ardently seek.."<BR>
<BR>
Not lustre, I don't want to mis-quote you!
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=133">Stevr</a><BR>
Date: 10 August 2001<P>

Isabella S. ... I so much like what you write because it mirrors much of the emotions I have inside too. Keep writing ... it's very theraputic. 
<HR>