Honestly, this isn’t a blog entry. This is merely a quote. Someone else’s writing. I could not, for the very life of me, remember where I’d seen this poem – until (for the fifth time, at least) I read Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.
This is a thank you for your unwarranted and valued support. And for Jess’s suggestion that you could all snicker at me even if I didn’t blog. An idea this poet would surely have loved as much as I do. Dysfunctional, you say, BB? Hope you all love this as much as I do.
Here goes:
We who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting,
as a group,
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift.
Your analyst is
in on it,
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband;
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us.
In announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves.
But since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community
of purpose
rare in itself
with you as
the natural center,
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your disastrous personality
then for the good of the collective.
-Phillip Lopate
