Doug Vinson Poet Prose Poetry

Love Is Blind

Our fellow travelers,
What measure of trust for them?
The moment's imperfections are easily, even instinctively overlooked -
We risk for their benefit, sacrifice for their good.

Minutes stretched, the holy person spoke to all comers
As I heard love's woman,
Hanging on the pierced and tattooed man.
What did she see, he was fractional to me;
Her freely-given look demanded no return,
Love's area of the mind spreading over others.
Was it that he'd only hit her once?

The sightless mother's fingers over the face of her child
Tenderly traced that juncture of skin and hour,
Acquiring an instant in time.

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Aniruddha Pathak September 17, 2018 at 6:47 AM A lovely poem

John Hamilton April 21, 2017 at 10:01 AM Wow Doug, you really wrote a deep one here, so good on so many levels. Very interesting word combinations, give us reason to pause, and reflect on our own preconceived ideas. Doug Vinson April 21, 2017 at 11:15 AM Hey John. : ) Thank you.

Bawa Talwar April 12, 2017 at 6:23 PM It's an amazing write.I liked it. Doug Vinson April 12, 2017 at 6:48 PM Cheers, Bawa. : )

Gary Bateman April 12, 2017 at 12:08 PM Hello Doug, A beautiful and most timely write here. Love is the great ubiquitous emotion that is, at times, so hard to define -- even when people think they know all about it!! A masterful and most meaningful write indeed!! A SEVEN/FAV!! Cheers, Gary Doug Vinson April 12, 2017 at 6:47 PM Hi Gary. : ) You are right - love can be tricky, unforecastable; it may sneak up on us. And then it may be a slow teacher.

Vladislav Raven April 11, 2017 at 1:04 AM Hi Doug, such a deep write you lay before us. The content is excellent as always. I do love the concept of the piece and one cannot fault the content at all. Love is blind but in that blindness there can be found such beauty. Open the heart and free the soul. You always manage to put your thought into a wonderfully poetic way. This has to be a seven and a fave. Your friend always....Mike. Doug Vinson April 12, 2017 at 6:45 PM Hey Mike. "Freeing the soul" - not that is what I am talking about. : )

Richard H. Dunsany April 8, 2017 at 6:09 PM This poem is grand, I daresay I love it and must get around to more of your work. The images you build in each stanza and how they're so personal and yet beyond singularity--I am touched. Especially from the ending--blindness becomes dual and empowers the 2nd stanza to a height it otherwise would not have. Doug Vinson April 9, 2017 at 10:32 AM Quite a kind comment, Richard. : )

Anil Deo April 4, 2017 at 7:56 PM Shalom Doug; if there wasn't abuse, a good example of agape love. The last 3 lines capture the ironies, irreconcilables in human love (So close to "Easter" I must recall only Jesus can reconcile horizontally & vertically - us and God). Based on the various ways readers have felt validated by addressing the ABUS-IVE elephant in the room, a 7. Thank you for E V E R Y T H I N G. AD Doug Vinson April 9, 2017 at 10:22 AM Hey Anil. : ) Thank you.

Darlene De Beaulieu April 2, 2017 at 5:18 PM Hello Dug Vinson, for me this is the first time that I have read a poem of abuse. My father abused me with words, and one day he cornered me in a corner, his fist in front of my face, I said "go ahead do it!" He realized what he was doing and stopped. He was always like that with me. Now I have peace. A 7 Doug Vinson April 3, 2017 at 2:44 PM Hi Darlene. Thank you. There are no end of stories of abuse on our planet, but to me Father against Daughter is one of the 'hardest,' beyond sad....

Charlotte Puddifoot March 24, 2017 at 7:28 PM you're an accomplished writer, i'm liking your work...you have a certain neat economy of language, which i shall probably never achieve, because i like to waffle lol Doug Vinson March 24, 2017 at 10:03 PM Thank you, Charlotte. : ) Hmm - "waffle," well - you weren't messing around with 'Cornered.'

Adeniji Toluwalope Gideon March 23, 2017 at 7:40 PM I adore your use of imagination herein, Doug. You are such a Poetic gem. Doug Vinson March 23, 2017 at 9:18 PM Ha! Thank you, my friend Adeniji. "Gem" - now this is a first time for me. With good reason. ; )

Emile Pinet March 23, 2017 at 12:05 PM You manage to capture a sate of being and entice it to the paper, before it vanishes from our sphere of recognition. Emile. Doug Vinson March 23, 2017 at 2:01 PM Cheers, Emile. I wonder - does it go back into the Aether, perhaps some day to return?

Constance La France March 23, 2017 at 9:04 AM Doug, I adored the deepness of your write, would say for me it was even dreamy, well done and I really like the Prose Poetry form alot ~ Doug Vinson March 23, 2017 at 10:51 AM Thank you, Constance. : ) I do wonder about the depths of our blindness - do we escape that in dreams, or is it there too?

Cyndi Macmillan March 23, 2017 at 8:51 AM ooooooooooh! Love "juncture of skin and hour." It purrrrs! juncturrrrr of skin and hourrrrrr... and the message is wonderfully tangled up in imagery. So well done. Because others have kindly pointed this out in my own writing (I constantly need to prune my work) I wonder if the line "And probably wouldn't do it again?" is really needed? I lived through a bad relationship (quite young, lifetimes ago) and the message is out there. If you ended it at "once?" would it give the line more power? Doug Vinson March 23, 2017 at 10:49 AM You're right, Cyndi - totally and without question. : ) I erred on the side of too much "tell," there, and indeed the woman's supposed perception doesn't need that line.

Lisa Ricci March 23, 2017 at 4:06 AM Doug. What a powerful expressive entry not to mention true to life for some couples and families. I would guess this wasn't the first time and that it will happen again. There are many reasons why couples stay even through abuse. You have outdone yourself with expression and execution. Honestly Doug Vinson March 23, 2017 at 7:35 AM Thanks, Lisa, and you're right - the intent is that of course he'll hit her again, but her love has blinded her to that fact. I wrote this for Brian Strand's blog of March 21, 2017 - "IMAGE or IDEA..." Cyndi MacMillan mentioned doing an example poem with images, and Brian proposed 'love is blind' as a theme. I came up with 4 examples of blind love, in this case.

Masoud Masoud March 23, 2017 at 1:53 AM We surely have a like button in here! Masoud Masoud March 23, 2017 at 1:53 AM I mean should have...

Masoud Masoud March 23, 2017 at 1:51 AM Wow this deep! Awesome piece, I need to reread this again and again. Doug Vinson March 23, 2017 at 6:48 AM Hi Masoud. : ) Thank you - was thinking of the ways in which people's love is unseeing, or not dependent on who the other person is.

Freddie Robinson Jr. March 22, 2017 at 1:06 PM Very poetic noir, Doug. A deeply thought provoking write. You're at the top of your game w/this one. Stellar poetry, my friend. Love w/a 7 attached. Much love and peace. Doug Vinson March 22, 2017 at 1:42 PM "Love w/a 7 attached" - oh Freddie, love you, man.

Chris Green March 22, 2017 at 11:26 AM Indeed, he only hit her once, chance are he won't do it again. I'm not sure I want my safety and that of my family and friends hinging on "Chances are". And I don't mean the Johnny Mathis song. Nice analogy Doug, If I read this correctly. Doug Vinson March 22, 2017 at 11:32 AM Exactly, Chris - she's blind to that. So are almost all of us, I think, at least for very short periods of time. And the "holy" speaker too - hopefully the message is one of love, aimed at all, regardless.