jonberger

Rejection’s a whole lot easier to take
when it’s preceded by a bit of acceptance.
I can swallow a dozen no’s in a row
by someone who gave me a little hope in the first place.

That slightest possibility of another yes
leads me on so far
I will walk the plank
as far as a telescope
which is not especially safe on a trimene,
if you see what I’m saying.

Better to just take a bitter man’s advice
and assume misanthropy takes the day
and nobody wants anything to do with anybody.

That’s usually the case.
But where would we be
if that was the case?

No.
I just can’t accept it.
Bitterness can’t be the only way.
There’s something else, perhaps, I hope.
Maybe.

Absolutely not! Some costs are too dear.
I could not ask anyone to pay
an arm and a leg.
Who could afford that?
But part of a face?

And on an ugly one like yours?
I think that is quite reasonable.

Tell me, if you couldn’t smell for a spell,
wouldn’t that be just as well?
And if you couldn’t hear
for the rest of your years,
just how sad would you be, here?

I think the payment would be fine, sir,
just for you to give part of that skull.
A little bit of what is you
to prove that you want what I have
is a penurious price to pay.
With that in mind
do we have a deal?

I don’t want to say “No”
because I know what it’s like to hear.
Surely, everybody does
but the way I feel,
I don’t want to be responsible
for causing that in others,
not if I can do otherwise.

So I do what I can
to work with people’s wants
though I think of myself
as sort of a selfish so-and-so.
When someone goes to the effort of asking,
I know how hard that can be
so I try to be helpful.
I see how I can be there for them.

It is good
to be there for people
though often
quite inconvenient.

…It’s just that I’ve been so busy, is all.
I appreciate you reaching out so much
but the dog-walking takes up a lot of time
and my eyelashes require a lot of work
to say nothing of the pill sorting.
Really, you wouldn’t believe how the hours go!
Thanks for thinking of me. It’s very kind indeed.

There’s a way to listen to find the truth.
Just pay attention. Be ruthless
in looking for the signals.
Just keep digging until you find the hints that you need.
You needn’t plead to find your answers.
They’re fleeting, like dancers.
You just have to catch them. You just have to look.
You just have to listen.

…listen, I’m so thankful for the offers, but I can’t.
I’ve been sick.
I didn’t get your message.
My phone’s acting up.
I’ve been on a cleanse.
I’m going through some changes.
Something just happened.
I’m really not ready.
It’s not you.

You just have to listen.
They’re easy to hear
if your ears are ready.

When you say “I won’t take ‘No’ for an answer,”
you seem to believe that’s a good thing,
but it’s not.
You’re forcing your belief upon another, here.
You’re seeking to command where you have no right.

Maybe it’s time to take “No” for an answer.
Maybe it’s time to shut the fuck up.

I could elaborate, but then I’d be forcing you to listen
when you probably don’t want to
and I wouldn’t want to do that.
You understand the concept?

I’ve been trying and it has been too long coming
but I do not believe that I am any better now
at accepting rejection
than I have ever been.

It is still hard.
I still fear it.
I still avoid it at every opportunity.
I find stasis better than risk
which is foolish.

Nowhere is not better than daring.
I know this
but I too often
do not live this.
I have little improved at accepting the world’s pains
than I’ve ever been.

How can this change
without my concerted effort?
Why do I continue
as this fluff-puff nothing much man?
Will I ever improve?
Can I ever really learn
this so important skill?

As she matured into womanhood
Jean found himself maturing
in other ways she didn’t understand.
Her body was changing, certainly,
but her mind was doing things
that simply made no sense.

She could lift hundreds of pounds
from across the room
juggle dozens of objects
manage a Rube Goldberg contraption
– as much of one as she could imagine –
if she concentrated.
She found her concentration improving with practice.

This was not normal, she knew.
No one else could do this sort of thing
not even the others in the school for gifted youngsters
she had taken to attending.
Qualified and impressive as the guys were
none of them were carrying things with their minds.

She didn’t mind being unique in that way.
She did wish she wasn’t the only female on campus.
She hopes a change is gonna come.

If I was just about the most powerful super-terroriststhat the world has ever seen
and I kept being shown up by a bunch of snotty teenagers
who didn’t have an inch of the might that I had
and then I joined them
and then I fought them
and then joined them
and fought them
oh, and of course their leader is my best friend
– did I fail to mention that? –
and I get a bunch of pals
(a whole country, in fact)
but that country is genocided
along with me
only I faked my death
so I could perform one of my greatest terrorist acts
only to be killed again
except oops! It wasn’t me
it was just the person I was pretending to be
pretending to be me.

I’d say it made more sense at the time
but it really didn’t.

Anyway, if all of that shit happened,
that’d be fucked, right?

Yeah, that’d be fucked.

Over time, you realize the value of certain soft skills.
We knew all along that Doug was special
with his inimitable ability to speak to anybody
but we didn’t connect to how valuable it was
to speak to like, everything.
When we figured out he could program anything
or talk to any species of animal or plant or alien
let alone all the peoples of Earth
Doug’s stock rose around here considerably,
let me tell you.

Everybody wanted to hang with the boy
– and I mean everybody.
This turned out to be better than telepathy
as he could communicate over a wider swath
of the universe.
It was incredible.
Doug became the backbone of outreach.
The backbone of, essentially everything.

I wish I could explain how important Doug is.
Luckily, Doug can.

Think of it:

you’re born with the ability to wish what you want
but you don’t know you have that ability
and you’re raised in a house absent wealth
absent security
absent many of the basic needs.

You could imagine anything you desire
but who could imagine that they have that ability?
So you live in poverty
live destitute
until somebody suggests to you
the merest possibility of what you can do
and you begin to believe in yourself
and you start to get wise to the reality
you can create with a snap of your fingers.

You start making things happen
all around you.
Things that are good for you
bad for others.
Then things that are good for more folk
because you feel better about yourself
and you want to spread the love
and in so doing you recognize more
of what you’re capable of again
and the power within grows
and you get a real sense
of the fantastic.

This is you.
This is everyone, really,
but this is mostly you
because you’re especially special.
You.