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Beth Patterson

Host, Virtual Tea House

How can it be anyone else’s?

 

Where I spend my work days

We talk and talk about

   trauma looking for a new home

   lodging in our souls as we work with children

Hurt

   like the evil spirits

   cast out by Christ

   lodging in the pigs and making them

   run into the lake.

 

I’m not sure

That it isn’t all the same.

Trauma or pleasure

   is it someone's first and someone else’s

Vicariously?

 

Or is it just, is?

rescued pitbull 
Rescued female pit-bull, teeth pulled out for breeding ease, horrifically scarred by fighting.

 

Written in response to the prompt vicarious”  . See other great poems/writing on this prompt at One Single Impression.  

Published Sunday, April 11, 2010 1:54 PM by Beth Patterson

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Twitter Trackbacks for Beth Patterson : How can it be anyone else???s? [virtualteahouse.com] on Topsy.com said:

April 11, 2010 2:53 PM
 

Mojo said:

I'm going to have to soak in this verse for a while.  Very deep, this.

"I’m not sure

That it isn’t all the same.

Trauma or pleasure

  is it someone's first and someone else’s

Vicariously?"

April 11, 2010 4:20 PM
 

sue said:

god this is so powerful beth!

April 11, 2010 4:28 PM
 

Anthony North said:

Deep and powerful. Loved the last line.

April 11, 2010 5:28 PM
 

Loch Rob said:

Your poem has me thinking this evening.  Quite thought provoking, indeed.

April 11, 2010 8:35 PM
 

DancesWL said:

Most run in search of pleasure, never understanding that it represents the other end of the spectrum of duality, you hit the nail on the head! What strength here, and what an incredible iimage of 'pigs making them run into the lake', thank God children are able to endure thereby, we hope, avoiding the lake!

April 12, 2010 1:21 AM
 

Beth Patterson said:

Thank you all for your thoughts and reflections.

The nature of vicariousness, whether pain or pleasure,  seems to be that in our undeniable connection, all experience is shared.  What is done to one is done to all.  What one experiences is shared by all on some level.   This includes pain, pleasure and even moments of non-dual enlightenment.  

Don't you want to really get this? It is my heart's deepest desire to do so!

April 12, 2010 1:44 AM
 

Tumblewords said:

Each of us is a composite of the others - the bad, the good and the indifferent. Nice piece.

April 12, 2010 10:44 PM
 

Amity said:

So that is how life on one side can be...

And the conflicting thought? Trauma or pleasure? We always wish for the good things in life, literally speaking!

April 13, 2010 3:22 AM
 

Tammie said:

in reading one of your comments above, I agree, we are all connected. Until we care for all life it is my sense that life will be out of balance.

Sometimes I sense that it is not as important to understand why, but to take action to help bring things into balance.

Poetry, your poem rises from deep feelings.

Thank you.

April 13, 2010 1:12 PM
 

JanePoet said:

a year and a half ago i changed jobs after being in social services (DV and homeless) for 9 years - vicarious trauma happens.

April 14, 2010 12:52 AM
 

Beth Patterson said:

Hi Tammie and JP--

I really liked your emphasis on action towards balance, Tammie--

And yes, JanePoet, vicarious trauma happens.  My work with the prompt was just to take it out a level to 'who is it that is primarily vs. secondarily traumatized...aren't we connected so deeply that it's a moot issue?

Thank you both--

April 17, 2010 9:51 AM

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About Beth Patterson

The Virtual Tea House website became 'word-ripe' when, over a cup of jasmine green, I realized that the web has an expanding part to play in the communal aspects of spiritual growth.

With a master's degree in religion, my career spans 30 years in end of life care and child abuse intervention and advocacy.

Here in beautiful Central Oregon, my spiritual homes of the high desert and the mountains are both in proximity. And for good measure, four hours away is Grandmother Ocean and the stunning Oregon Coast.

I'm making decent progress on the goal set by my mother early on: she taught us that the goal of humanity should be to become ever-more eccentric, i.e. more fully human.

Entering the 'forest-dweller' phase of life, I am honored to host the Virtual Tea House for all who wish to explore how our lives are enriched and made new a thousand times each day by the spirituality we embody. Exploring this engagement together is the purpose of the Virtual Tea House.

Welcome! Let's have a cup of virtual tea together and share what brings us joy, what we are being taught by life, how we are leaning into the Big Questions posed to us each day in sometimes 'distressing disguises'.

Follow me on Twitter, if you must
http://twitter.com/MyraB

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