THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. 

It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not?" 

re/member

IN PRAISE OF FORGETTING

Traumatic childhoods cling to the skin of memory

Violence sears itself within and will not leave

Reaction to repression reinforces cycles

Visceral the fist the slap the punch the putdown

For those ghosts to leave (like bruises)-it takes more than forgetting

Body knows where shock goes.It glows golden ,beating .

What we feel is as real as others' repeating.

To break such cycles requires therapeutic healing

Part of going forward requires selective forgetting

Forget those nightmares,horror movies,effects of abuse

Replace with patterns of positive self-image

This is no denial of what happens.It simply limits its paining.

We may have total recall of all that happened before and after birth

To sustain ourselves,sift out dross/maintain images of self-worth