.
Utilization
Another person’s misdeeds or their flaws,
Are rarely pleasant sights when they are shown,
But I try making such ordeals the cause
Of seeing and disposing of my own.
.
.
Superiority
Although superiority
May lead to trophies on your shelf
Of greater import is to be
Surpassing of your former self.
.
.
Knowing Nobody at Parties
For most folks it is not an easy thing
To be at any social gathering
Where not one soul is known at the affair
While everybody else knows people there.
So when I see folks solely unengaged
I try to make their awkwardness assuaged
By greeting them and speaking cordially
Since I’d appreciate that done for me.
.
.
Russel Winick recently started writing poetry after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.
Russell, these are neatly packaged hidden gems of wisdom!
Thank you for your kind words, Paulette. Much appreciated!
Russel, you have internalized life’s lessons and sharpened them for our awareness. I always appreciate your precise perspicacity.
Roy, sometimes it’s hard to fathom that it’s me whom you’ve saying such things to, so your kindness is all the more appreciated.
Roy, I perked up at your use of “perspicacity”. The last time I encountered the word was not too long ago while reading short stories of Henry James.
Wise and succinct. “Superiority” should be framed and hung in every workplace.
Thank you Martin. I really enjoyed your feedback.
Really good, wise sayings, Russel, well-expressed — like something out of Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues, maybe?
Thank you Cynthia. I’ve never heard of that book before, but I’ll have to look it over. Much obliged!
Focusing on the third poem, I have been to parties like that and have often gone out of my way to engage with persons I did not know very well or at all, but almost never when I was completely sober. The first two were trenchant as well. What is it about persons like you and me, who observe and comment, that we almost always sound like cynics?
Well Sir, my hope is to call the balls and strikes correctly, as a realist, so your observation is particularly interesting. Thank you.
Remarkably real, Russel. To me, poetry is wisdom. You are an excellent umpire because you see well enough to make good calls, and if readers listen attentively, you pleasantly build character as you compose poems.
This is lovely feedback Margaret. Stunning, actually. Thank you so much for it.
Russell, I’d like to meet you at a party! You sound fun.
Wow, Marguerite, that’s very kind of you to say. I hope that I’m fun, and even more so — kind like you.
Poems about people turning the mirror in on themselves and looking on themselves from without. Great reminders that we should perhaps be more humble on occasion.
Thanks for the reminders, Russel.
Thank you Paul, for this interesting and thought-provoking feedback. Much appreciated. I’m glad that you liked the poems
On reading “Superiority”, what popped into my head was the Japanese philosophy of “kaizen”, or constant improvement.
Thanks Cheryl. I’m not familiar with that, but it sounds like a nice thing for that poem to be compared to.
I still think you should collect these into a book, Russel. So many sharp daggers.
Thanks Andrew — much appreciated!