From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=141">wistful</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

Gala~  Okay, I'm in.  "Under the Boardward", "Endless Love", "Stardust" and "Memory" are all represented, with a nod to Sondheim's "You Must Meet My Wife" for "livens my sadness".  I only wish I wasn't so . . . wistful . . . on Mondays (sigh).  Maybe a new handle would make me less morose . . . <BR>
<BR>
Question to all: Do you find that writing poems heighten your emotions?  Since I started writing, my emotional highs and lows seem more extreme than before, when I just stuffed all my feelings neatly away and trotted numbly off to work each morning.  I'm of two-minds as to whether this is a good thing . . . maybe "two-minds" is a little too appropriate for my current manic-depressive state . . . ;-p
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=110">greysky</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

umm wistful you used the word numbly  ....  give me the joy and the pain for this is life, being numb is akin to death....<BR>
or so i think<BR>
       ............jack
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=13">B.K.</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

Unchained; Darlin, may we clone you? You are burning down the house...(sigh)<BR>
<BR>
bk
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=9">Madison</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

TJ Holland:  I heard an unforgettable voice in your work, <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2001.08.12.06.35.4016">I'm 5</a> – from my viewpoint, hauntingly well written.
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=20">distant moon</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

wistful - totally agree and understand.  the manic depressive thing included.  I've noticed the more I throw myself into writing and the poetry of words and the words of life...everything spins out of control outside of that world.  Or...it seems that way.  Because if I briefly stop writing, everything's perfectly fine (as much as it can be).  The moment I begin writing again, it is just as you said, the emotions heighten and I feel things a thousand times more...simple conversations show poetry, maybe it's the pure beauty in the simplicity of everything else that shows me that I could never write something so perfect... Thusly I get even more depressed and wanting to write better...but what do I know :-)   Anyway, good observation
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=29">~Harem~</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

To Distant Moon and Wistful ~<BR>
<BR>
Just a suggestion that works for me....<BR>
Only write about positive stuff....<BR>
And when you need to clear your heart of pain...<BR>
Then end all negative writing...<BR>
with upbeat, hopeful possibilities...<BR>
<BR>
The effect is positively amazing....<BR>
<BR>
Writing can make you higher than high.....<BR>
Lifting you far past the moon....<BR>
Your words can make you smile and sigh....<BR>
floating above all the gloom.....<BR>
<BR>
Please read :  <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2001.05.09.00.00.1290">In Agony, I Call on the Muses..</a>  - (click it)<BR>
<BR>
and you will see what I am trying to say....<BR>
You can leave each poem or prose, with a feeling<BR>
so ecstatic and satisfying....<BR>
that writing will become your therapy for facing<BR>
all of life's problems.....<BR>
<BR>
WORKS FOR ME !!!    *Wink<BR>
<BR>
It's a matter of training your mind to see good, even in the most horrible of situations....<BR>
<BR>
I say it best here :  <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2001.07.12.14.41.27280">Eyes That Can See</a> <BR>
<BR>
It truly works.... and becomes a habit after awhile.<BR>
I write the same way that I live...<BR>
<BR>
I learned this very early in childhood, where my life was unbearable... watching my mother beaten, cut with glass, stabbed with knives, guns put in her mouth, my father trying to molest me, his drunkeness, their constant fighting, a home that was so filthy, I was ashamed... My father constantly making fun of me, putting me down, calling me names.... or never talking to me.... watching him seduce his girlfriends, gambling the money away, his violent temper.... and that was some of the best part.... some I cannot write....or have not been able to, yet. And then adulthood with three long term relationships where I was horrendously abused, physically, mentally, verbally, and emotionally....<BR>
<BR>
And yet, I am the happiest person, I know....<BR>
And it isn't a put on either.... <BR>
I can turn a bad mood in my work place, into laughter in a matter of seconds.....<BR>
<BR>
Writing affects me, like making love.... drinking fine champagne.... getting high on Saturday nights while dancing until dawn, singing and listening to good music.....  All the things I treasure most. Writing brings my joys into fruition, leaving me ecstatically high and so satisfied !!!!<BR>
<BR>
It can do the same for you... or anyone...<BR>
<BR>
I have left off writing a poem.... only to dance around the living room.... run up the stairs.... screaming, "YES YES -<BR>
OH YES ! ! !<BR>
<BR>
~Harem~       *giggle -  I just did it again.....<BR>
<BR>
~
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=20">distant moon</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

Harem - I don't think you understand, what at least, I was talking about...I'm not so sure about wistful but...here's what I meant.<BR>
<BR>
In an almost American Beauty type thought, my writing brings a lot out of me.  It flows and ebbs and causes me to see things with a clarity that maybe is all in my head, but either way, I see it.  Therefore, I see all the beautiful things in the world, right along with the horrible things.  I write about whichever I'm in the mood to write about.  It's not good to constantly be on a high and thinking everything's wonderful, cause nothing gets fixed if you don't look at the bad once in a while to see if you can do anything to change it.<BR>
<BR>
Now, I've not experienced things that you have, so you have to deal with things the way you see fit, but we've all had bad things in our own right.  Some better, some worse.<BR>
<BR>
Either way, thanks for saying what you said, it's the first time I've seen someone comment towards anything I've written here in the past month or so, and it's just nice to know I'm not imagining the fact that I'm posting stuff ;-)<BR>
<BR>

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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=179">aqua_lady</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

Harem... thank you for the compliment. Coming from such a prolific and accomplished writer as yourself ...I take it as high praise indeed!
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=50">MichaelT()</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

TJ ~ <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2001.08.12.06.35.4016">I'm 5</a> is brilliant and inspiring. Here's to a happy 32, 33, etc..<BR>

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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=8">Ali</a><BR>
Date: 14 August 2001<P>

Harem~ My dear...Your writing is equisite...full of passion...full of question...full of life...wonderful, girl!<BR>
<BR>
Love and sunflowers, Ali
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