Bruce Whealton

Hug me - poem by Bruce Whealton

Hug me!

Take my hand
help me
hold me
comfort me.

I'm not ready yet
to stand alone.
I'm scared...
so scared
that I'll fall.

Don't let go.
No, don't leave me
alone – come
back.
Help me.

Hug me!

By Bruce Wheelton
June 24, 2009

Altered States in Poetic Dreams - poem by Bruce Whealton

Altered States in Poetic Dreams

There is one
difference
in my use
of hypnotic
patterning
in poetry...

I do not write
a poem
with one reader
or listener
in mind.

I write
those things
that have
altered
my consciousness
in the most
intense
ways.

So, the question
is not
can you be
hypnotized,
the question is
can I find
the language
patterns
that will
be most effective
in altering
your
consciousness.

By Bruce Whealton
June 24, 2009

Meaning and Purpose - poem by Bruce Whealton

Meaning and Purpose

I don't know why I spend my time
writing these words,
unaware of whether anyone
is even reading the words

and so to whom
are these words written
and for what purpose?

Like a letter
to a lost,
deceased
loved one,
I wonder about
the futility
of my actions.

I write alone.
My following
is quite small
but in my mind
I dream of something
much bigger.

I imagine
that eventually
these words
will reach
the ears
eyes and lips
of others...

who knows who
or when
or how
but then
my actions
as a writer -
or poet -
will have meaning.

This is just one
of a small number
of ways
in which
I try
to find meaning
in my life.

by Bruce Whealton
June 23, 2009

The Invisible Ones - by Bruce Whealton

The Invisible Ones

She seemed out of place
on this late June day,
wearing several layers of clothes
including a coat.

But she was invisible
even with her several gags
of belongings -
as if she was traveling -
she was always traveling,
I believe.

I couldn't help looking.
I wanted to notice her.
I don't think anyone else
coming into the church
noticed her – she was invisible.

I wanted to think of something
to say to her...
I wanted to notice her.
During the Mass,
I didn't see her leave
the hall and join us.

I wanted to think of something
to say
at the end of Mass
but she was gone...

I just wanted to show her
some empathy.

I don't know what
her experience is
but I was thinking
I'm also invisible.

by Bruce Whealton
June 23, 2009

Dear God - Poem by Bruce Whealton

Dear God,

I know
all things are possible
for you
and you know
my passionate,
no desperate,
needs
desires
hungers...

Yes, this is
that same prayer.
How much
more passionately
can I present
my supplication?

I don't
know what
to do.

How would I even
know
if you did
choose
to grant
my supplication?
What would I need to do
differently?

I sometimes
feel
completely
and totally
directionless.

By Bruce Whealton
June 22, 2009

Poetry and Hypnosis

I was reading the book “Trance-formations: Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis” by John Grinder and Richard Bandler. This book includes some transcripts of some actual seminars or workshops with the authors. This is some excellent information on the use of hypnosis. However, what is most exciting is the understanding that these communication patters are the same as anything else. What I mean is that poetry is hypnosis is so far as it creates an altered state of mind. A good poem will alter one’s consciousness.

In a poem, in the reading of the poem, if it is done well, our mind become narrowly focused upon the images used in the poem. For example, if I described hiking in the mountains, the sound of birds above, the sight of the trees, and places where the sun pokes through an opening in the trees above… coming into a clearing, seeing the cliff’s edge ahead and the rolling hills beyond, the sound of the wind and the feeling of the wind against oneself… hopefully, you’ve come with me along this hike. You may have noticed that you became more and more focused on this hike, what you saw, heard and felt.

These same patterns can be applied to hypnosis. The same skills that I learn under the auspices of hypnosis can be applied as well toward poetry. It’s all one in the same.

The Induction - poem by Bruce Whealton

The Induction

In this poem
	I'd like to alter your
consciousness 	and help
you to begin
to find
	a greater sense of
re -     lax -   a   -   tion
and you will be able to return
          to this place or state
of mind
	and this poem
whenever you need
to do so.

And each time
you repeat this
you'll go deeper
and deeper
in relaxation.

Now begin
with a a few deep breathes
and as you do,
with your eyes closed,
imagine or pretend
	you are walking
along a wooded path...

approaching a safe
and comfortable place -
	your place.

You've reached
a clearing
overlooking a town
below...
you notice
		the sounds
here
and the sensation
              of the air
against
your face...

You notice
	whatever it is
that is most pleasant
about this experience
and whatever it is
that is most
helpful
in creating
a feeling
of relaxation.

And you begin
to wonder
and imagine
what other
pleasant things
may await
your
discovery.

By Bruce Whealton
June 16, 2009

Guidance - poem by Bruce Whealton

Guidance

Hypnotic patterning
can be useful
and effective
as a language tool
for any poet.

Those who say
they cannot
be hypnotized
will be pleasantly
surprised
to discover
the way
a poem
can alter their
consciousness.

While hypnosis
is no different
than anything else,
we can learn
to create poems
that elicit
more intense
responses
from people...
using hypnosis
	we can do what it is
we do
	as hypnotists....
as poets...	and have
a greater		impact.

by Bruce Whealton
June 16, 2009

When I heard my cousin committed suicide - poem revised again - by Bruce Whealton

Here is another revised version of this poem. It is much shorter.

When I heard that my cousin committed suicide…

It was some time last year,
I forget when,
that I heard that my cousin
had committed suicide.

I don’t know what made me think of this
now,
other than those words
I heard today;
someone was explaining about death
just being all natural -
neither good nor bad.

People deal with death in different ways.

The Gnostics believed that this world
this existence here,
was evil and ruled by an evil god.

In their thinking
heaven was the only place
where God held dominion,
the only place where anything good
could exist.

I don't know about that;
I've never known anything
besides this reality,
this world.

Death is the great enigma,
hidden in complete secrecy,
shrouded in mystery,
the place where no one,
no one in existence now,
has ever gone.

Having not gone there,
having never seen death personally,
it always has seemed to me,
to be like
an illusion…
something not real or possible.

Perhaps this way of thinking,
denying the reality and existence of death,
is just a coping mechanism that I use,
for dealing with the unspeakable.

I’ve turned to horror stories
not because of some curiosity about death
but because in doing so,
I could keep it in the realm of the fictional.

I certainly never held that view
that death was natural
or normal -
neither good nor bad.
Death is completely and totally
alien to any experience I’ve ever had -

the enemy of everything I've ever known
of everything I've ever loved
or of everything that's ever mattered.

Yet for some,
there must be something
seductive about Death,
perhaps hypnotically seductive…
some people clearly see Death
in ways that I cannot.

I believe that
were it not for death,
the Devil would be nothing…
nothing more than a silly
taunter or tempter,
like a disobedient little brat. 

When I heard that my cousin
had committed suicide,
last year,
I had to know how she did it,
what method she used,
because that would be the only way
I could make sense of what I was being told.

When my sister told me what happened,
I wanted to say “No!”
or ask my sister,
if she was sure.

But I didn’t say anything.

I don’t think my cousin really was thinking
about how permanent were her actions
or where she was going,
metaphorically speaking.

I think she must have wanted
to go away,
in her mind,
to escape, or retreat,
to some place of her creation.

But where did she get the idea
that suicide would get her there?

Bruce Whealton February, 2009
Revised on March 22nd
Revised June 14, 2009

Poetry is hypnosis - poem by Bruce Whealton

Poetry is hypnosis

Poetry is hypnosis,
whose success
is measured
by its ability
to alter
one's consciousness -

and yet
not every good
poem will
create the same
trance in everyone...

sometimes it's the
reader's voice
and the empathy
between reader, poet
and listener.

June 9, 2009