Unnecessary People

I am in the process of clearing unnecessary people out of my head. These are people I have set up as judges to evaluate everything I do. You have them, too. They are people who find it discomforting to deal with people who do not hold the same values and feel it is their duty to try to make others around them see the world the same way they do. Usually, these judges have a very narrow view of the way the world should operate, and if you don't adhere to their standards, there is something wrong with you.

I don't want these people in my head any more. There are things I want to do for which my "judges" would condemn me so I must exorcise my personal moral demons. (Some of my demon/judges are religious; some just have a strict sense of what is proper. Either way, they've got to go.)

Here are some of the things I have done or am planning to do that offend my mental court system:

• Wear a bikini at my age and with a stomach that is less than svelte - much less.
• Wear shorts at my age even though I have the legs for it.
• Wear my hair wild, which means long and pretty much doing its own thing.
• Get a good tan that covers up my age spots - if only for a couple of months.
• Speak out when someone pushes his/her religion in my face or just assumes that I believe the same thing he/she does. (This is the most difficult judge to face. I was thoroughly indoctrinated as a child, and coming to my own conclusions about religion took years of slogging through that alligator-infested swamp.)
• Be proud of the talents I have without fear of being struck by lightning.
• Write what I want to.

That last one will be tested soon enough. I have collaborated with my brother-in-law, Mike, on a book of photography and poetry. He took some awesome photographs of a beautiful young woman. When he showed them to me, I was enchanted and blurted out, "I don't look like that, but that's the way I feel inside. That's the way every woman should feel!" The young woman was nude, and the camera loved her. Mike hadn't been sure how I would react to the pictures, so his relief was obvious when I said I wanted to write poems to go with the pictures. It was the beginning of a project that has produced what we hope is the first in a series of books.

The book is called Bare. We are working on the final draft and will self-publish it soon. Mike and I both love the book. All of the photographs are set in rural Oklahoma, and Mike could not have chosen a more fitting model. He has done a superb job of capturing the sensual, earthy side of a woman. I crafted each poem specifically for the picture it accompanies. 

Here is the title poem:

     Bare

A shoulder,

a breast,

a hip.

No fabric

between your fingers

and my skin.

A gesture,

a glance,

a sigh.

No wall 

between your soul

and my eyes.

I am sure there will be people who condemn such a book, however beautiful it might be, but they are unnecessary people.