the joy of obscurity in poetry

Through obscurity,
you escaped a beat-down into bland product
or an exaggeration into self-parody.
Through obscurity,
you retained your soul.
Through obscurity,
you remained true to yourself
in all three-dimensions of you
and those who do know you
know the best of you and
that’s awesome.
Even if it’s just a few of us,
share it with us.
You are amazing.

I’ve been dreaming in the form of literary theory,
words that cannot mean things
but can only point toward things.
Words are abstractions
that means slightly different things to everyone
your mental picture of a cat
is different than mine
mine might be gray and fluffy
yours might be orange and sleek
we can get closer to precision with
adjectives and adverbs
and paragraphs of clarification
but we never quite get there.
Our interactions through language
are half-lived slides through shrinking approximations
that can never quite become exact
no matter how many words we use
but that’s beautiful
there is beauty in the fact that we are
each of us a language
each of us a universe
each of us a little bit obscure.

If you become metaphor,
you can live forever
but you’ll lose control over what you mean.
Immortality has its costs,
ask any misused prophet.
Ask Mohammed ask Jesus
ask the Buddha
ask Ghandi about a nuclear India
any message of love will get corrupted by power
any message of hope will be overwhelmed by money
maybe if you’re not immortal
maybe if you’re not a metaphor
maybe if you’re obscure,
you can do good without unintended evil down the road.
You are not a brand.
A brand is a name horrifically seared into flesh.
Be a person instead.

We are process.
There is no end even in death we continue to change.
Upgrade, maintain.
Give up on stasis, it will never come.
You can do the best by being yourself
whoever you are
at that moment
don’t be afraid to change
don’t be afraid to evolve
just keep your hands on the wheel as you go
you are whatever you are
be yourself
that is enough to change the world.
And in obscurity,
small and silently
you can be more powerful than even the gods.
You can do it.
You are awesome,
even if only the people in this room know it
even if only you and I know it
even if only you know it.
That’s the joy of obscurity.