By Charles Robert Lindholm
Is it a question?
is it an exclamation
or just an enigma
Is it wistful
plaintive
reflective
or regretful
and melancholy
Is it ambiguous
Is it open ended
with a potential
and a future
Or is it closure
an ending
with regrets
or just
a wistful longing?
Perhaps . . .
Copyright © 2017 Charles Robert Lindholm – All Rights Reserved
A reflection on the post “The Shortest Poem or Flash Fiction Ever – Well, Maybe”
Simple is usually better, clearer and easier to understand, but not always. Sometimes a word is ambiguous. It’s open ended, vague and cloaked in mystery. Sometimes it’s unintentional, an accident. Sometimes it is meant to be evasive and used to be deceptive or expansive.
Whether intentional or accidental a word or a phrase can be a Chameleon that is changeable depending on its surrounding context (like those who turn wherever the wind blows).
So, is the glass half full or half empty? Well, it depends. Are you an optimist or a pessimist? How do you perceive things? Maybe you are a bold problem solver who can end the discussion by drinking the wine and reach a definitive conclusion that the glass is empty.
Maybe a word or a phrase just carries a hidden double meaning that requires perspective to fully understand? This was the problem with the “Three Blind Men Trying To Describe An Elephant” who each understood a partial truth but did not reach a full and complete understanding.
What is water? Sounds like a silly question doesn’t it? It’s something you drink, isn’t it? Well, yes, but? What is the real question? Do you mean what is water made of? H20. How would you describe water? There may be one really right and scientific way to answer but would it be wrong to say that water is gaseous or maybe a solid or no, it’s a liquid depending on what environment a set quantity of H20 is exposed to.
“Mean what you say and say what you mean” sounds good but sometimes words can be slippery. Most men know this instinctively when they hear, “Honey, can you take out the trash?” Of course, we answer, “Sure”. Half an hour later when we are still in our chair watching the game and we hear the complaint, “You said, you were going to take the trash out, so how come it’s still here!! Why can’t you do what you say you are going to do?” we become expert linguists and explain (instead of getting up and emptying the trash) “I told you I would take out the trash and I will, honest! I just didn’t say, when!! I will get it later”.
We think we are so clever! Surprise! That’s not all we get – way, way later (another ambiguous word – not for a few days or a week, maybe more?). That’s when we discover that Our Honey can also be an expert linguist when she decides to teach us just how long later can be! Her answer is, “Honey, I said I would. I just didn’t say – When”.
A picture may be worth a thousand words but words or “a word” can describe in a precise and exquisite, excruciating or erotic way what a picture never can. The realm of words is wider, deeper and more intense than a picture can usually convey. Words can be ambiguous so if you see a photo of a couple longingly looking at each other while holding hands over wine or dancing cheek to cheek most times we can use our imagination but often times words will tell us so much more about the back story, the emotions, the intentions and of course the outcome!! Sometimes we just like to know the answers to our questions – for sure. No if’s, and’s or maybe’s.
There are times when we absolutely, positively want a definite, iron clad assurance in what a word means. Like when you are getting tired of waiting to find out just how long “Later” can be and you ask, in a very plaintive way, “Honey, tonight?” and you hear an answer that has too much laughter in it’s tone, but not for you – “Perhaps . . .”
We men should really try and learn not to try and be so “Clever”.
Poet's Corner 