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Poem of the Month: June 2000

Defuse Me If I were a bomb ready to explode if I have become dangerous to your life, then you must take care of me, but how? I am here, right in your midst. (You cannot remove me from your life.) And I may explode at anytime. I need your care. I need your time. I need you to defuse me. You are responsible for me because you have made the vow (and I heard it) to love and to care. I know that to take care of me you need much patience, much coolness. I realize that in you there is also a bomb to be defused. So why don't we help each other? I need you to listen to me No one understands my suffering, including the ones who say they love me. The pain inside me is suffocating me. It is the TNT that makes up the bomb. There is no one else who will listen to me. That is why I need you. But you seem to be getting away from me. You want to run for your safety, the kind of safety that does not exist. I have not created my own bomb. It is you. It is society. It is family. It is school. It is tradition. So please don't blame me for it. Come and help; if not, I will explode. This is not a threat. It is only a plea for help when it is your turn. --Thich Nhat Hanh in Call Me by My True Names Journal Prompts: Who or what in your life or community threatens to explode? What is the bomb in you that wants to be defused? How could you reach out -- to help another, or to receive help from another? What are you willing and able to do? What would it take to begin? Thanks to my colleague, poet Susan Field of Geneva IL,  for bringing this poem to me, along with this note: "Yesterday  I was talking to some teens -- a motley crew -- wearing black,  all from our town of Geneva. They were hanging out, sitting on  the curb in front of Starbucks, writing poetry in the rain. They  let me read some of their poems. Later that evening I went to  Borders to look for poetry. I found this exquisite book of terrible  beauty by [Vietnamese monk] Thich Nhat Hanh. This poem  speaks for the children -- for us all. The Columbine voices are  universal pleas.... Blessings, Susan"

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