Journeying into Synergy

A trilogy of poems dedicated to disabled people's access to lifelong learning and inclusion

1. In Praise of Fully Inclusive Human Potential

While Zen Buddhists pose the question:
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
I propose an image for you to imagine:

“Imagine a scene that I once witnessed,
Of a spoon-fed woman’s joyousness
Upon being given a musical shaker
That I — as cabaret entertainer
And Jobseekers Allowance 'overstayer' —
Had offered for audience participation
At a 'come-all-ye' meal for adults
With learning difficulties”

Some adjustments are more delightful
Than ‘completely reasonable,’
And no-one is truly
‘Ineducable’.

 

2. The Arts Manager

Her acceptance, enouragement and enthusiasm
Help us grow. Together.
From "Whoopsidaisy!"
To "Whoopee!"

She helps us grow trees of our talents
On the soil of our connectedness.

Our forest of creative fulfilment
Can ward off the desert's encroachment.

 

3. Reframing 'Economic Activity'

Let us broaden the horizons of full inclusion
Reflecting on life experiences illumines mine.

In place of "insufficient funds for full inclusion,"
Think of a broad continuum
Of gifts and needs and disabilities.

Consider that musical shaker
In that one helping hand —
Art in the Community!
Communal joie de vivre! —
Becoming 'economic activity'.

What is 'consideration'?

By Alan the Poet Therapeutic
© 2005 and 2020 by Alan Raymond Wheatley

 

From 'Dude Swheatie of Kwug' back to 'Alan the Poet Therapeutic' with a blog

I have been many things in my life and now I believe it would be a great idea for me to return to my poetry and my songwriting aspirations, but via the Google blogosphere.

Since September 2013 I have been the main blog controller for Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group (KUWG), with intermittent postings.(1) There I have acquired the nom de plume 'Dude Swheatie of Kwug' on account of

1. the KUWG nickname, 
2. the fact that I wear a posh hat, and 
3. a spoof on my surname 'Wheatley'. 

Now though, as I am preparing to move out of the KUWG heartland of the London boroughs of Brent and Camden, my attachment to that blog is diminishing and a past identity as 'Alan the Poet Therapeutic' is re-emerging following a warm reception of my poems at a recent London Federation of Green Parties social near London Bridge Station on Thursday 23 February. In my 64th year of this life, I believe it's time for me to enter into a fresh phase of life as an autonomous person and — dare I say — mouthpiece for the 'Collective Unconscious' rather than as a profile raiser for the kind of collective entity that is the Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group.

So I'll 'kick off' this new blog with a poem I wrote in the early 1990's, Communal Womb.

Communal Womb

There are times when I feel cut off —
Separated from the world —
Outside. Starved of Love.
Like an abandoned child.

In such times I write my poetry,
Reaching in to seek the Womb in me.

And there are times when I know
That I'm enough —
With a fertile, abundant world around
My glowing, life-giving, fireball of Love.
I blend my vision with the here and now.

In such times I share my poetry,
To celebrate the union of the Womb and me.

And in such times I share my poetry,
Reaching through
To seed the Communal Womb.

By Alan the Poet Therapeutic
© 1990 by Alan Wheatley

 Link reference

1.  http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/