I've been asked a couple of times about the poetry I've been posting, so I've added bylines to all of my own. The others already have them. Sorry, I thought it was obvious that the ones without attributions were original.
For convenience's sake, the ones I wrote are:
It Wasn't Love at First Sight (
http://randomrantandramble.blogspot.com/2014/06/it-wasnt-love-at-first-sight-not-that.html)
How Long? (
http://randomrantandramble.blogspot.com/2014/06/how-long.html)
As to why, well...to begin with, I'm a writer. And writers write. Very often, they write about what's on their minds or in their hearts. And, quite often as well, they want to be read. Just as a musician wants to be heard, a painter wants to be viewed, and a dancer wants to be watched. It's the nature of the beast. And since I have a few actual friends who genuinely care about me and what I have to say, as well as either liking, or being kind enough to say they like, my writing, I put some of it on my blog for their enjoyment and my satisfaction. There's something cathartic about it, as well as about blogging in general: like keeping a journal, but with the possibility of its being read by others (but without the awkward, "Hey, will you read this and tell me what you think?" moment).
On the question of "for whom?", well, I can't say exactly, as it might embarrass them. What I can say is that all but "For my First Love" are for the same girl; that that one is for, obviously, my first love, for whom I carried a torch for something like twenty-five years, all the way through a bad marriage to someone else, and until I fell for the person about whom the others were written; that that person is NOT Amanda Shires; that she has told me I mean nothing at all to her; and that we currently have a very awkward, painful, and uncomfortable relationship (and, for the awkwardness, discomfort, and pain I've caused her, if any, I am truly sorry). But I love her all the same, as true love is unconditional. I know that some people can't handle genuine unconditional love, but that's their issue, not mine, and if someone is constantly trying to turn pure love into something ugly, then the question is not what is wrong with me, but what is wrong with him. I do everything I can to leave her alone completely and make absolutely no romantic advances or gestures, though we can't really avoid seeing each other. But this is my blog, and it's about what's on my mind, and if she, or others who think they're acting on her behalf, are here reading this, then that's their own choice: no one is forcing them to see what I've written. Not that I mind--she or anyone else is perfectly welcome to read what I post here. But if what they see upsets them, then they should also feel perfectly welcome not to read it.
