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2.0k · Aug 2019
SNOWFLAKE
Bill MacEachern Aug 2019
Hello
My name is Bill
I am a Snowflake
I speak against racism
I am a Snowflake
I care about injustice
I am a Snowflake
I KNOW guns don't **** people
People **** people
I also KNOW if someone has an assault rifle with HIGH CAPACITY CLIPS, they can **** a lot more people in very little time
**** right, I'm a Snowflake
I know donald trump is a travesty
That's right...
I am a Snowflake
I fear Lady Liberty has fallen down
A Snowflake I am
I believe in equal rights for ALL
Snowflake
I care for the child who arrived here with his parents at a young age, went to school here, only speaks English, only knows the United States as home
Call me Snowflake
It tears at my heart to know that a family can travel 100's of miles for a better life, only to have the children taken away from the parents, TAKEN AWAY AND PLACED IN CAMPS
YA, I'm a friggin Snowflake
I use to be a Hippie
Now I'm a Snowflake
Hoping for a BLIZZARD
1.8k · Sep 2016
Murder at Tick Tock Lane
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
Tick Tock Lane
A sign that caused my head to crane

In time my wonder got to me
So Googled what there was to see

And so I saw to my horror
The story of Elmer the clock maker

He killed his wife
And did some time
Then married again
Those wedding bells chimed

In two years time Elmer's no more
Two men came shooting
New wife and Elmer

His wife survives
She testifies
"This is for Ma" is what I heard...
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Was time finally served
1.6k · Sep 2016
Tin Can Man
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
I eat ravioli
Out of the can
Not because I have to
But
Because I can

I eat ravioli
Out of the can
Chef Boyardi baby
No
Need for a pan

I eat ravioli
Out of the can
Just like I use to
When
Was a young man

When I was a young man
Hitching across this land
I'd eat my Chef Boyardi
Out of the tin can
1.4k · Sep 2016
Inhumane
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
Inhumane was said  
Six million dead  
Gassed,slaughtered  
Degraded  

Inhumane we dare  
At Jeffrey Dahmer  
Kidnapper, killer
Evil embalmer  

Inhumane it read  
Black man dead  
Dragged by his feet  
Decapitated  

Inhumane we say  
A young man who's gay  
Found bound,beaten  
Left dead in the hay  

Inhumane we cry  
As so many die  
In crumbled buildings  
From terror in the sky  

Inhumane  
I hear say  
But only humans  
Act this way
1.3k · Dec 2018
Cook King
Bill MacEachern Dec 2018
Cook King

Cooking is my yoga
It’s so transcending
When I’m in my kitchen
I am a cook king

When I’m cooking
I sing, dance and whistle
I’m always in my element
Cooking in my castle

Peeling, chopping
A sprinkle and a stir
It’s the rhythm of my realm
Palate and scents confer

When I’m cooking
I’m one happy man
I love feeding my kingdom
With plenty for the clan

Cooking came natural
Born within my bones
I’m  always in the kitchen
More than on my throne

By: Bill MacEachern
Love of cooking
1.2k · Mar 2023
Summer Daze
Bill MacEachern Mar 2023
Summer Daze

Summer days
Playful playful playful
Days ablaze
Joyful joyful joyful
Days of rays
Summer days

Summer days
Peaceful peaceful peaceful
Days of play
Gleeful gleeful gleeful
Good ole days
Summer days

Summer days
Brightly brightly brightly
Break of day
Sunny sunny sunny
Bright all day
Summer days

Summer days
Burning burning burning
Heatwave days
Blinding blinding blinding
Solar haze
Sunny Daze

Bill MacEachern 3/21/23
1.1k · Dec 2018
Sunny Side Up
Bill MacEachern Dec 2018
Sunny Side Up

Don’t despair
The rain’ll clear
The storm’ll
Change it’s coarse

Sunny days
Are on the way
So unstop  
All the corks

Drink up life
With all your might
And don’t look
Back at you

You’ll never know
When you must go
So do all
You can do

By: Bill MacEachern
Hope
1.0k · Mar 2019
Tomato Chase
Bill MacEachern Mar 2019
TOMATO CHASE

Now....
Out of season
They're reddish
Uniform in size & shape
Firm
And flavorless

In season
They're RED
All sizes and shapes
Firm, soft, some just right
And flavorful

Yesteryears
They were magic
Like the transformation of a caterpiller
The little yellow flower
Gives way to the tiny green marble
Stalk n stems grow bigger
Marbles grow larger
The green fuzzy rough stems
The scent
That wonderful smell
So unique to the tomato plant
They turn green to red
Some even get incubated on a sunny sill
When it's time
Knife reveals seeds and red splotched juice
And the TASTE
A taste that fades with our age
That TASTE that we chase every summer
Close
But never a ringer
Nostalgia
839 · Mar 2019
Harvest Of Hate
Bill MacEachern Mar 2019
Once said
A wee whisper
A mere seedling
Broadcast into
A harvest of hate
A bullhorn of bull
Once weeded out
But did not eradicate
Muffled
But not silenced

The harvest is back
Verdant fields of lie’s
Grow wild among us
Words of hate printed out
Pressing on the impressionable
Tearing down tolerance
Breaking down brotherhood
Building up walls of isolation  
Closing doors to sanctuary
We MUST head off hate
Tear down those walls
of ignorance
Blow open the doors to wisdom
Smear the words of war
And SCREAM...
NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!
788 · Dec 2018
Were You To Be Gone
Bill MacEachern Dec 2018
Were You To Be Gone

Could I carry on
Were you to be gone
I guess I can
But do understand

The skies would be blue
But have no more color
Not driving with you
Would lose all of its wonder

Songs would be noise
Losing all of its joy
Sunshine on Leith
Sounding more like a bleat

A walk through the mill
Would only be Bill
No longer as green
A whole different scene

Those rides to nowhere
Would lose all of its flare
I’d hear no more laughs
For my driving gaffs

Going out to eat
Would just be that
No longer sharing
Just me getting fat

Could I carry on
Were you to be gone
I guess I can
Be a man with no plan
Loss of love companionship and sharing
664 · Nov 2018
One’s More Than Many
Bill MacEachern Nov 2018
I’m alone a lot
But, then again
I’m really not

I may only
Have you
But you’re more
Than will ever do

Some may
Have many
But for many
That’s none

Having only you
Makes their many
Seem so
Outdone
Love Friendshio loyalty
636 · Feb 2023
Therefore, I Am
Bill MacEachern Feb 2023
Therefore, I Am

All the way
Everyday
Everywhere
With you

It’s the way
We have stayed
Together
While we grew

Always here
With my fears
Sharing in
My gloom

Always here
Like a prayer
Since my
Mothers womb

Bill MacEachern 2/14/22
586 · Oct 2016
November 8, 2016
Bill MacEachern Oct 2016
November 8, 2016

Oh what to do
We've only
These two
One is a liar
The other askew

We are so divided
On who'll be decided
The News
And their pundits
Are all so one sided

We debate and discuss
On who'd be less fuss
When sadly
we know
Neither's a plus

I don't have the answer
Or know all the truths
But one thing I know
I love all of You!

Bill MacEachern 10/16/16
582 · Aug 2023
Boomers
Bill MacEachern Aug 2023
Boomers

Bottle caps were currency
Pop sticks were our props
Maple seeds
Were whirly birds
Spinning like a top

Hopscotch drawn on
Down the streets
Jump ropes tied to reels
Double Dutch was fun to watch
Especially for the girls

Quarters pitched against a wall
Closest takes ‘em all
We played that game
With baseball cards
Some lost DiMaggio

We grew up fast
We learned the ropes
And mostly on our own
We’re called the Baby Boomers
We’re "like a rolling stone”

Bill MacEachern August 13, 2023
572 · Oct 2016
Love Was
Bill MacEachern Oct 2016
Love was grand
Then went bad
Love was happy
Then turned sad
Love was worship
Churned to scorn
Love was life
Burnt and mourned

Love is worth
All it tolls
All the warts
And all it's moles
I'll do it again
If only I could
With all the bad
And all the good
557 · Mar 2021
Heading South
Bill MacEachern Mar 2021
Small mind
Big mouth

Hate the
Hate

Hate the
House

Like
A bird
Flying  
South

I
Go
Where
There
Suits
MySelf

By: Bill MacEachern
03/13/21
This was therapy for me this morning,
546 · Sep 2016
Tater Cater
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
I like taters
Yes indeed
I like taters
With my meat

I like taters
Don't you too
I like taters
In my stew

You like taters
Tell me please
You like taters
With
Cream cheese

Who likes taters
All mashed up
Who likes taters
With Ketchup

I have taters
Everyday
Mashed
Baked
Boiled
With
Gravy
536 · Mar 2021
Buffalo Clouds
Bill MacEachern Mar 2021
Buffalo Clouds

Buffalo roam
The skies today
Hides of white
Touch of gray

There’s platypus
Pegasus
And
Hippo too

But it’s the Buffalo
Stampeding
Our skies of blue

By: Bill MacEachern
03/29/2021
522 · Sep 2016
Love Linguist
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
Well paint my wagon
****** red!!
Can this be the woman
I ran from and fled
This beautiful Lady
I Love so and trust
I spoke with a tongue
Of ***** disgust

First time I flew, I said...
"stupid me"!
Why do you run
From all that can be
Love....
Never felt
Flowed free from my pores
Then I ran slamming
Slam slamming all doors

Love was a language
Elusive to me
A tongue that's no secret
Yet never could speak
Then came you
My speech therapist
A Miracle worker
My Love linguist
516 · Dec 2018
Satin Thighway
Bill MacEachern Dec 2018
Her belly's smooth
As it is sweet
Traversing it's curves
As if they were streets
  
I get the green light
Down Belly Button Way
Go left or go right  
On Satin Thighways  
  
Approaching the merge
I swerve toward the left
She's right on the verge
My hand at her cleft
  
She wiggles and squirms..
Then shrills with delight
I hold the wheel firm
And drive through the night
******
499 · Mar 2019
Bloat
Bill MacEachern Mar 2019
It’s not as easy
As you may know
Food is legal
And can be
Gotten to go
I find myself
In the same
Old Bloat
We eat when
We're Hungry
Or in a
Deep mote
But...
Hard
As it is
To dig out
Of the rut
We all can
Do it
And have
A good
Gut
495 · Nov 2018
Remnants Of Ma
Bill MacEachern Nov 2018
I really didn’t know my mother
I knew her moods
But, I didn’t know her
And I really don’t think she knew her children
She knew our names...mostly
But, she didn’t know us
I know my mother loved singing
I heard my mother sing
"How much is that doggie in the window”
And
One of my favorites
"Charming Billy"
I know she liked to cook
I know she read The Godfather and Valley Of The Dolls
I know she liked having a party
I know family holidays STRESSED her out
I know she had many friends
I know she drank a lot
I know she went out a lot
I know she drank and went out a lot with her many friends
I know she had many blackouts
I know she could go from very pleasant to wicked mean, instantly, especially when drinking
I know that she hated my father
I think she hated my father for not doing what needed to be done to make it all work out
I think maybe she resented her sons for being his sons
I know my mother was brutalized by her father
I know my mothers father followed my mother wherever she went as a teen because he didn’t trust her
I know my mothers father called her terrible names that a father should not call a daughter
I know that my mother married an alcoholic who gambled too much and beat her for his own sins
I wish I knew other things instead of these things about my mother
But...
I know my mother would have liked me to remember other things too...
475 · Nov 2018
FACEBOOK
Bill MacEachern Nov 2018
Facebook was fun
Now...
Not so much
We use to
Share pictures
And music
And stuff

Now
It’s a stage
For
Heated debate
On how
To make
AMERICA GREAT

Facebook was fun
Now...
Not so much
We’d find
Long lost friends
Or An old
Crush

Now it’s a
Shame
It’s  not
Like before
Facebook’s
Become
One giant bore
468 · Sep 2021
Elegant Emerald
Bill MacEachern Sep 2021
Elegant Emerald

It’s a people’s paradise
A rehab retreat
An elegant “Emerald”
Green carpet
At our feet

Trojan Swans
Cross the pond
Ferrying Families, Nostalgian’s
And Photographers
Strong

It’s all mine
And yours
Ours…

I think I love that most…
The sharing
With sharing comes caring
With caring…
Love

I see that all here…
I do
I love Boston
I love Boston Public Garden
I love you…

Bill MacEachern
09/30/2021
This is about The Boston Public Garden, The gem of The Emerald Necklace created by landscape architect Frederick Olmsted
461 · Mar 2021
Nomad
Bill MacEachern Mar 2021
Nomad

Been flying solo
All of my life
Old news to girlfriends
And former wives

It wasn’t just them
I hadn’t stayed with
There were many a friend
And old acquaintance

Didn’t realize then
As I do today
I’m a nomad at heart
Who’ll stray over stay

I also know now
It’s freedom I need
Free to move on
Free to be free

I’m happy this way
It’s simple
You see
I’m happy alone
And happy with me

By Bill MacEachern
03/26/2021
438 · Dec 2016
Truth
Bill MacEachern Dec 2016
I came to love
Unexpectedly
A picture of her
Is what I did see

This lady in red
And full of charm
Invited me in
With open arms

We lived, We loved
With all our heart
Yet fought like foes
With Martial Art

Back and forth
Forth and back
Our Love unwavering
Forever intact

Whether together
Whether apart
I'll always love her
With all of my heart
Love
434 · Aug 2023
No Exit No Retreat
Bill MacEachern Aug 2023
No Exit No Retreat

We CHARGE
Into love
There is
No RETREAT
It’s instant addiction
That cannot be
Beat

Love’s addiction
Is like no other
While trying to
Abstain
Forever
You’ll love her

There are
No rehabs
No 12 steps
If the arrow is true
There are
No Exits

Bill MacEachern August 14,2023
432 · Oct 2018
Imperfect Union
Bill MacEachern Oct 2018
IMPERFECT UNION

Oh whoa is US
What can we do
Our perfect union’s
So long overdue

We The People
Have been here before
Back 15 years
And 20 score more

We fought our neighbors
Our brothers too
Oh whoa was US
And what we did do

Those battle drums
They beat again
Not Reb’s, not Yank’s
Now, Rep’s and Dem’s

Oh whoa is US
What can we do
Our perfect union’s
About to undo
431 · Sep 2016
My Everything
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
I didn't know.
I didn't think
That you would be  
My everything
  
My everything  
Indeed you are
My every thought
Is you by far
  
I think of you  
As music plays
Of how you sing
And dance  
Your way
  
I think of you  
And how you took
This lonely heart
And made it shook
  
I think of Us  
And all the hours
Amazing too
This love of Ours
  
I hadn't known.
I hadn't thought
This love of ours
Would be this hot
Bill MacEachern Feb 2021
I Saw The Psychedelic Lights ☮️

It was in our music
As well as in song
Come on people
Let's all get along

Love, Peace and Happiness
Was what we preached
It was our Trinity ☮️
Our core belief

There was Dylan, Baez
And MLK
Apostles of peace
With something to say

And...
All We Are Saying
Is Give Peace A Chance
And
Let It Be
Our glorious chant

By: Bill MacEachern
02/27/21
Hippism
415 · Mar 2023
Roots On The Rocks
Bill MacEachern Mar 2023
Roots On The Rock

Oh…
Newfoundland
Newfoundland
I’m here to see
My roots on
The Rock
Out here
On the sea
I’m Billy
From Boston
And happy
To be
Here in St. John’s
With my Newfie family

Oh…
Newfoundland
Newfoundland
I have to say
Your warmth
And your kindness
Make us want
To stay
We Drink
Of the screech
Then kiss a cod fish
I’m happy to stay
If that’s
All of your wish

Oh…
Newfoundland
Newfoundland
Grandpappy’s
Home
He left
You for Boston
When fish
Went to roam
He met
My grandma
A lass from Kilbride
Then both said "I do”
And became groom & bride

Oh…
Newfoundland
Newfoundland
I’m here to see
My roots on
The Rock
Out here
On the sea
I’m Billy
From Boston
And happy
To be
Here in St.John’s
With my Newfie family

Bill MacEachern March 12, 2023
405 · Dec 2023
I Remember
Bill MacEachern Dec 2023
I Remember

I remember a time
When all was so bright
With bustling crowds
And neon lit nights

Covered wagon caterpillars
And bunnies of blue
Teacups that spun
You sat in them too

I remember the days
When scooters could fly
Pinball was king
And everything thrived

I remember the smells
Of hot dogs & beer
I remember it all
And wish it still there

Bill MacEachern
05/02/2022
393 · Mar 2021
Green Screen Door
Bill MacEachern Mar 2021
Green Screen Door

There’s something about
Green screen doors
Conjuring past summers
The why
I’m not sure

Swing bang shut
Bent out screen
Surrounded
By wood
All painted in green

Brings back
Kook-Aid
The bees all abuzz
Mingled with flowers
And Aunt Martha’s fudge

By Bill MacEachern
03/28/2021
#g
382 · Nov 2018
Ezra Schwartz
Bill MacEachern Nov 2018
Ezra Schwartz  
Oct 1, 1997 —  Nov 19, 2015

The dice of terror
Was cast that day
Young Ezra’s life  
Was taken away

He went to Israel
For his gap year
To study at yeshiva
And volunteer

During a Mitzvah
To feed some soldiers
The van was ambushed  
By Jew hating ogres  

It mattered not  
They knew not him
Or that his heart flowed
With Simchas Hachaim

To those you touched
You were a young Mensch
To all who knew you
Your loss is immense

Young Ezra Schwartz  
I’ll never know you
For they took you away
For being a Jew

But what they don’t realize
You’re still here with us
You’re everywhere you smiled
And in everyone you touched
Ezra Schwartz was from a town not far from me, he went to Israel for a year to study and Volunteer before he started college back in Massachusetts. The van he was traveling in on his way to drop sandwiches off to Israeli soldiers was ambushed, young Ezra, at 18 was shot and killed.by terrorists .
379 · Dec 2023
Wood Walk
Bill MacEachern Dec 2023
Wood Walk

I wood walk for leisure
I wood walk for me
I wood walk to listen
To old woods that creak

I wood walk at daybreak
I would walk and breathe
I wood walk and take in
The scent of wet leaves

I wood walk and ponder
I wood walk the trail
I wood walk the winter woods
When I want to feel

I wood walk in rhythm
I wood walk alone
I wood walk and listen
As birds sing along

I wood knock on knotted pine
I wood walk right in
And then walk the wooden pews
Of my church again

Bill MacEachern December 13, 2023
358 · Nov 2018
Here Comes The Gun
Bill MacEachern Nov 2018
It’s happened again
A message’s been sent
By using a gun
Instead of a pen

Again I awake
To the news of this hate
While rubbing my eyes
I learn of their fate

There’s something so wrong
When you rise for the sun
Yet all you see
Is hate, hate and guns

By: Bill MacEachern
11/08/2018
Another senseless shooting at Thousand Oaks, California
354 · Apr 2018
One Day At A Time
Bill MacEachern Apr 2018
One Day At A Time

I’m still alive
Though not intact
I strive and strive
To stay on track

I try, I fail
I try again
I need to heal
It never ends

The coarse was set
With little wind
My sail’s a net
It’s hard to win

LIke a tattoo
One stain at a time
What I’ve accrued
Is pain in my prime

I work what I got
With smiles and grins
I want to give up
But fight giving in

So I’ll go on
One day at a time
Till I am upon
Life’s finish line

Written By: Bill MacEachern
I’ve experienced many downfalls in. My life,  physical and mental abuse from mother and father, abandoned by father,  alcoholic  Parents, victim of ****** abuse, discovered my mother when she died...
I was falsely accused of child ****** abuse(found innocent) and had a shotgun stuck in my face during a bank robbery...
I attempted suicide several times, at least two were serious ,
My first attempt of sobriety was at the age of 20.  A year after my mother died, I was successful for 5 years....
Bent on and off sobriety several times since, at this moment, sober again for 5plus years...
The poem is trying to describe what I feel is the reasons for my struggles in being more successful in life than I’ve been, it’s as if I have preprogramming to failure...
351 · Feb 2019
LOVE
Bill MacEachern Feb 2019
Happy Valentines!!!

LOVE BE

Love Is
Love Was
Love Can
Love Does
Love Will
Love Did
Love Wants
Love Gives
Love Rains
Love Shines
Love Sings
Love Chimes
Love Feeds
Love Eats
Love Blooms
Love Grows
Love Flys
Love Soars
Love Dives
Love Crushes
Love Builds
Love Surprise
Love Thrills
Love Heals
Love Hurts
Love Shies
Love Flirts
Love Laughs
Love Weeps
Love Falls
Love Leaps
Love Finds
Love Seeks
Love Dwindles
Love Peaks
Love Mends
Love Breaks
Love Calms
Love Quakes
Love You
Love Me
Love Always
Love Be
Love Love Love
342 · Mar 2022
Sides
Bill MacEachern Mar 2022
Sides

Born into sides
Religious and tribal
Learning quite young
To fear and to rival

If we are Catholic
We hate  the Jews
If we are white
We do as we do

If we are men
We do as we want
If we are women
We’re told that we can’t

If we are black
We’re told to go back
If we are red…
We’re mostly all dead

If we’re ALL Human
We’re on the same side
No one to fear
No need to hide

I’m a humanist
I love all my tribe
Won’t you come join us
Just take the Human Side

By Bill MacEachern 03/23/2022
342 · Mar 2021
Give me Love
Bill MacEachern Mar 2021
Love was elusive
Most of my life
Then love came
One Cupidian night

Its constant now
Will always be
Won’t be shut off
By her
or
By me

Now...

Hate’s been elusive
So far
&
So good
It’s ok with me
And well understood

For hate
Like love
Always will be
Can’t be shut off
That’s just not for me
Love Hate
318 · Sep 2016
Dianism
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
Love...like religion,
Was not there
Until I met you
There wasn't
A prayer

Then the day came
A miracle too
When love
And religion
Became
I love You
313 · Sep 2016
Pocket Pal
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
Picked it up
When just a kid
Found I had talent
Was just always hid

Play it by ear
No music is read
Lucky that way
It's all in the head

Whip it out!!
Is what I hear say
Whip it out!!
And let's hear you play

Blues is my music
Makes me happy
Blues is the music
My ears plainly see

Jonathan Edwards
In his shanty
Makes room for
Wammer Jammer Dickie

My Harps always there
When happy or sad
I whip it right out
Even when I am mad

My Harp is my Friend
A true pocket Pal
I love my Harmonica
Can't you all tell
293 · Sep 2016
Eden Experiment
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
America the Beautiful
In God We Trust

Could This Be Our Eden
Or Simply A Test

We've Milk
Honey
With Plenty To Spare
Yet People Die Hungry
Right Here
On This Sphere
There's Mountains
Rivers
Land
Shore To Shore
While Freedom Famined
Peoples
Bang Bang
At Our Doors

Could This Be America
In We...God Trusts

The Eden Experiment
Would That Not Be Just
283 · Dec 2023
That Smell
Bill MacEachern Dec 2023
That Smell

That smell I know
But can not place
Is from my youth
A certain space

That smell I know
Is  so familiar
Musty and cold
Like an old root cellar

That smell I know
Brings me right back
Crawling, exploring
But not an attic

Now my nose knows
Like incense in church
That smell I remember
Playing under the porch

Bill MacEachern 2018
283 · Feb 2021
Emotion Ocean
Bill MacEachern Feb 2021
It comes in waves
One moment
Drowning
Gulping for air
Wishing
The world away
In an abysmal  of fear


Then, the tide turns
Currents change
Swimming
Doing the backstroke
Wishing
The world to stay
With a blissful tear
277 · Dec 2016
Dilution
Bill MacEachern Dec 2016
Like a grain of sand
On a desert plain
Or hand held fan
In a hurricane
Tears go unnoticed
While crying in the rain
Analogy
273 · Sep 2016
Half Hearted
Bill MacEachern Sep 2016
I searched for you
One half of a heart  
When I found  you  
My mind blew apart  
  
Our love is as certain  
As night is to dark  
As clear as Romeo's  
Ear for the lark  
  
I'll be with you always  
And always be there  
I'm one half of you  
Our hearts halved to share
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ALL THAT IS
INTERESTING

The Crazy And Charming Theory Of Love In Plato’s “Symposium”
By John Schellhase on March 16, 2015
Plato Symposium
A symposium scene on a 5th century BCE Greek cup currently housed in the State Antiquities Collection in Munich, Germany. Source: Wikimedia
Written 2,400 years ago, Plato’s philosophical novella, Symposium, includes one of the weirdest – and most charming – explanations of why people fall in love ever invented. Plato gives this trippy exegesis to the playwright Aristophanes, who appears as a character in the book.


Before turning to Aristophanes’s odd speech, let’s set the stage. First, we’re at a dinner party. Wealthy Athenian men have gathered, as they often did, to drink wine, eat, philosophize, and carouse with women, younger men, or each other. On this (fictional) occasion, the guests are all playwrights and philosophers and they include Plato’s idol Socrates. As the night progresses, the conversation turns to the meaning of love.


In the Greek world, two-and-a-half millennia ago, writers and thinkers often viewed love with suspicion because it aroused passions that could drive a man to abandon responsibility, obsess, and/or go mad. But the guests at this symposium seek to find what is praiseworthy about love. One man says it makes lovers brave, particularly homosexual soldiers who serve alongside each other in the army; their love would make them more valiant than the loveless. Later Socrates suggests that learning to love is a step toward discovering higher beauty and truth, such as offered by philosophy.

Plato Symposium Detail
Detail from the 1869 painting ‘Plato’s Symposium’ by Anselm Feuerbach on display at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, one of Germany’s more prestigious art museums. Source: Cultural Institute
The most memorable speech of the night – and the strangest – comes from Aristophanes. After recovering from a bout of hiccups, the playwright starts his speech. Instead of an intellectual discourse, he tells a story, a myth of the origins of love.

Aristophanes says that at the beginning of the world human beings looked very different:

“Primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike… He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast.”

These weird, fused humans had three sexes, not the two we have today. Some were male in both halves, some were female in both haves, and others had one male half and another female half. According to this tale, they were more powerful than today’s frail human creatures. Aristophanes says, “Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an attack upon the gods.”

The gods met to discuss how they would deal with these circular attackers. Several suggested all-out slaughter. But Zeus said that humanity simply needed to be humbled, not destroyed. The gods decided to sever the humans in two. “And if they continue to be insolent and will not be quiet,” said Zeus, “I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single leg.”

The gods halved the humans. And so now, in this new age of split selves, the two halves roam the face of the earth searching for one another. Male searching for male, female searching for female, and male and female searching for each other – it is all part of the same story, according to the playwright. And finding that other, original part of yourself… That is love. As Aristophanes concludes,

“After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one.”
272 · Oct 2016
The Eagle Cries On Tuesday
Bill MacEachern Oct 2016
I'm frightened
I'm worried
I'm very concerned
I see all of US
And how we have turned
Against one another
For this one or that
Its all or its nothing
That's where we are at
I care as you do
With all of my heart
Im worried and frightened
This tears US apart
Political
270 · Feb 2019
Not Black
Bill MacEachern Feb 2019
I’m not black
I think about that
What it must be like
Not being white
I’ll never have a clue
How black can make one blue
A stigma to be worn
From the day that you are born
I’m not black
I’m thankful for that
White’s a lifetime bonus
Black... a burden that’s bogus
No one white wish’s to be black
That says it all...
Think about that
249 · Dec 2023
Guilt Distilled
Bill MacEachern Dec 2023
Guilt Distilled

I want to turn away
From all the misery
But if I close my eyes
The guilt distills in me

And if shout about
All that I believe
I sadly know by now
I’ll lose some family

But if I turn my back
To that, that must be seen
Well, then, I risk it all
And lose humanity

Copyright © Bill MacEachern | December 16, 2023
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