All Things To All Men (poem)

Flattery

Brand new comer to this site, I thought I would start by posting a sublimely bitter poem, written a couple of years ago in the midst of the unravelling of a relationship. Not the most positive of starts, but howanever..



Have you ever done anything nice for me?
Anything worthwhile?
You have tortured me so often, it cannot be coincidence.
There is some attraction within you that must tempt me,
Tease me, ignore me, **** me
Slaps me around, gets me drunk, confides in me, hides things from me

Loves me, loves my friends
Scorns me, confuses me, terrorises my mind
Makes me fear for my life

A six-bullet revolver pointed simultaneously at both our temples

Entices me, manipulates conversation, remebers for years
So flirtatious, so distant
In my head, in my heart

First meetings, past friends, past times
Skipping beats, mocking me
Being just so sincere
Contradicting, lying, inventing, dream worlds

Seeking love
Worthy of better
Agreeing with me
Proving me wrong

Appearing so immediate, so elusive
So trustworthy, so vindictive
Seeming larger-than-life
Then petty
Considered yet improvised
Thoughtful and yet selfish

Making me feel so happy in this skin
Seven inches tall
Undermined and celebrated

Ignored, yet important
Confident yet absolutely terrified
Obsessed and apathetic
By turns

The vision, the phantom, the stark reality

Poetic and shallow
Dreaming so inconsequentially

The old-fashioned temptress, the siren
The angel, the chaos in your wake
Broken people

Flattering
Appealing to the bloated ego
Criticising, hurting
Amusing and touching

Distortion, loyalty
Truth, kindness

Betrayed and yet betraying
Neglecting and so attentive to detail
Instilling resolve and inaction with perfect balance and symmetry

Charming so many around
Only to be ultimately transparent

Dedicated
Loved by loyalty, so attracted to difficulty
Bored by loyalty
Charmed by fools and jesters

So prolific
So beautiful, so friendly
So promiscuous

Appearance versus reality
Contradicting hypocrisy

Popularising ambivalence and ambiguity for a new generation

The kindred chameleon

One of the best
Easily the least happy

The traveller
The nature lover
Remaining practical in pursuits with the soul of the artist

Being all things to all men

Cosmopolitan
Yet, staggeringly domestic
Inappropriate
Yet, always in fashion

The light of life and the height of darkness

Preying on the naive
The elation of knowing
Someone loves your appearance

So perfectly ****ed up
A differrent person to all the rest
Schizophrenic

Never pressed
Never put on trial
So sensitive to weaknesses and essentials of others

Manipulative, oh yes

Well read, softly opinionated
Subtly masculine
Though batting eyelids all the while

More comfortable with men
Man-eater
Ego-pleaser
Pleasure giving parasite


I have no idea who you are. Essentially, I know nothing about you. You are all shadows, all different shades of an utterly elusive whole. Once the house lights are drawn up, you will dissolve, and we will finally understand. It was all a trick.

Selphie

I'm really no critic, but I thought I'd share my opinion. I like it a lot.
I'm going through a terrible phase in my relationship right now, and it really touched a lot of nerves within me. It's raw and passionate and really gets into the nitty-gritty complexities and upside down feelings of relationships and I identified with a lot of it. I hope things worked out for you
You gonna put more stuff up?

Flattery

Hey, thanks very much. As epilogue, the girlfriend I was breaking up with at the time that was written is now a very close friend, so sh*t as things often appear, some kind of redemption is always possible. That probably sounds flippant, but I guess I mean it. Hope to post again soon.

Selphie

I presume she hasn't read it lol!
I guess so. We've practically broken up - I know this is irrelevant - but I'll search for the redemption thanks
Looking forward to reading more of your stuff.
This is an amazing poem

Dylan_James

Intelligent and delivering. The poet here grasps all dimensions of an unbalanced relationship. He takes what appears to be all contradictions and turns them toward truth. And in this case the truth appears to be lying. The theme of this poem is appears to be contradiction and unseen betrayal.

"The vision, the phantom, the stark reality"

One of my personal favourite lines here, but there are many more. The poet does rage against this situation he has found himself in. There is many a difference outlined in the poem. However one does feel that such a perspicacious work can be derived from such an inconsistent relationship.

On a personal note to the poet. I think you should show this to your ex who is now your friend as I have gathered. If you really have put your heart and soul into this work (and it looks like you have, and for that I commend you again.) then you are being truthful. In this respect, you have created something excellent from something bad. You have erupted in this poem and I would bet you felt good writing it down. Your explosion of emotions shows you are truthful and delivering honesty.

However, to be truly honest, show this to your ex. Show her how you feel honestly with this poem. You rally against dishonestly and contradiction here in this work. Show her, see what she does, if she doesn’t strike out at you she will be a good friend.

By not showing her aren't you being contradicting and dishonest?

My personal opinion of course.

Flattery

Interesting comments, Dylan and much appreciated. Your comments on truth and hypocrisy put me in mind of another poem, which I have now posted.

The problem with such a one-sided, frustrated reportage on a relationship as this, is that it is just that- one-sided and frustrated. This was venting frustration, as you picked up on in saying it must have felt good to write (I'm sure it did). As such, emotions are hyperbolic, and paranoia is allowed to roam, which in itself probably stops it being perspicacious. Its indulgence and selfishness mean it is, in places, difficult for me to read without recoiling a little, though I still like some of the turns of phrase. Accurate as it was at the time, it is not especially relevant to current relationship.

F*ck, I'm babbling so will stop. Thanks for the feedback! Geninely appreciated.

shiv

Flattery wrote:

A six-bullet revolver pointed simultaneously at both our temples


Instilling resolve and inaction with perfect balance and symmetry

Cosmopolitan
Yet, staggeringly domestic
Inappropriate
Yet, always in fashion

Never pressed
Never put on trial
So sensitive to weaknesses and essentials of others

Manipulative, oh yes

Well read, softly opinionated
Subtly masculine
Though batting eyelids all the while

More comfortable with men
Man-eater
Ego-pleaser
Pleasure giving parasite


I have no idea who you are. Essentially, I know nothing about you. You are all shadows, all different shades of an utterly elusive whole. Once the house lights are drawn up, you will dissolve, and we will finally understand. It was all a trick.

Those are my favourite lines by far. Not sure the end works, think it's stronger without it. Meant to say interesting choice of name by the way, especially in this forum And interesting topic of conversation regarding writing and exes and showing it or keeping it close to your chest...