Saturday, June 8, 2013

Double Trouble



image borrowed from bing


Double Trouble

“So we grew together
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition,
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.”
----William Shakespeare

Some develop from a single egg,
two shells over the same yolk,
others decide to emerge from two eggs,
not quite identical, but still connected;

Some thrive while their twin does not survive.
Andy Garcia, it is said, had a parasitic twin brother
on his shoulder, who died when removed.
Elvis & Liberace had twin brothers who died at birth. 

On the carousel of life, as animals, we are built to last,
but at our birth, our beginning tends to be a fragile
tight-wire act, far from a mere crap-shoot
and yet those twin dice do roll, hit the wall,
and flip over to reveal who we are,
or might be, or were, or will become.

Much too soon we don the veil 
and rush to forget our origins,
our immortality, our spiritual configuration,
our conversations with God,
and our many past lives,

and during those final moments
while we still wore our Janus masks,
when it was clear that beyond the veil,
at our starting point for this journey,
we could see the great serpent
swallowing its own tail, where 
past, present, & future remain
one unbroken unblemished plane--

Yes, we have heard of the twins of myth;
Romulus & Remus,
Apollo & Artemus,
Helen & Clytemnestra,
or my birth favorites
Castor & Pollux;
fathered by Zeus,
brothers of Helen of Troy.

But what of those actual twins who
are often unheralded,
never in the direct spotlight,
content in the shadowy peripherara, like
Kiefer Sutherland’s twin sister Rachel,
Montgomery Clift’s twin sister Roberta,
Joseph Fiennes twin brother Jacob?

It is no secret that each of us harbors
duality, dichotomy, darkness & light,
good & evil, love & hate, and those
pesky right & left-brain shoulder monkeys
chattering incessantly to both sides
of our face;

and these helix twins do co-exist
within the ghost that resides
in the machine, sometimes
raging out of control, but
evermore enriching, coloring,
motivating, enabling, multi-tasking
and embracing,

cajoling and allowing us
to hug more, to love more deeply,
to sacrifice more completely,
to be truly generous,
to give back, to pay it forward,

to forever cherish our inner child,
to remain playful, and to always
have our emotional bags packed,
ready to whole heartedly embark
on the next fabulous adventure
of the mind. 


Glenn Buttkus

June 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets Poetics

Would you like to hear the author read this poem to you?



14 comments:

Brian Miller said...

a parasitic twin...now that is a freaky thought....

you hooked me with this bit of truth...

Much too soon we don the veil
and rush to forget our origins,
our immortality, our spiritual configuration,
our conversations with God,
and our many past lives,

love the close as well...cherishing that child and always being ready for adventure...

Anonymous said...

Well, you describe the opposite of the parasitic twin, but the enriching twin--and a very lovely vision it is. Thanks. k.

brudberg said...

I really like what you do, a very thorough analyse of the concept of twin. But I really like the positive end the most, that inner child giving us strength. It's wonderful to end with a positive end like that. Great piece Glenn

Gerry Snape said...

they say... I have heard...that a left handed person is so because the twin died in the womb...I don't know how true this is but it certainly adds another dimension to this twin thought...grandgirls over here are twins...put together in the womb...now there's another whole side to this nowadays... I'm left handed by the way!

Claudia said...

i think twins have a special relationship but not always an easy one...very interesting write glenn...didn't know that those all had twins...so tough to learn as well when you grow that your twin died and you made it..tough in a way

Anonymous said...

a lot i didn't know in here - what a great take on the prompt.
"Much too soon we don the veil
and rush to forget our origins,
our immortality, our spiritual configuration,
our conversations with God,
and our many past lives"
this spoke to me - there's so much of us swallowed in the daily grind... it feels good to be reminded.
thank you for this wonderful contribution - a treat to read.

Scarlet said...

I like the part that Brian quoted too ~ And yes twins can help each other, in more ways than we can imagine ~ I have twin sisters, and one is always helping the other and vice versa ~

Wishing you happy weekend Glenn ~

Mary said...

Glenn, of the poems of yours that I have read this one really is a favorite. So many interesting facts as well as reflections. I do think we all have to nurture the dualities within ourselves, our different facets. The opposites within us only make each of us richer!

Anonymous said...

Glenn- this was an awe-inspiring write. Powerful, beautiful imagery, and a whole lot of truth to it. There are a lot of people with twins that go unnoticed. -Mike

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Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Wonderful poem. I think you've pretty much covered the subject!

George Polley said...

Hi Glenn,

Thank you for this poem, which will remain one of my favorites. There is a world in it.

Petra Karr said...

I just seem to be crying all the time . The information in this is fascinating- the imagery magnificent. Thank you again fur sharing .