By The Minutes

Over the years I’ve boned up on as much investigative people-understanding as I can. I’ve read books on temperaments, marriage, child rearing, pop psych and niche cultures. It’s helped a great deal – up to a point. Some riddles remain unsolvable. Only God truly understands a human heart.

I love science fiction. As a child I dreamed of meeting aliens! As an adult, I notice that humans can barely understand other humans, let alone something from outer space. Russians don’t get Americans, Sanguines don’t get Melancholies, Baby Boomers don’t get Gen Why, suits don’t get tradies, women don’t get men, parents don’t get kids. Permutate them all, and you have chaos.

No matter how many categories we apply, people are not component collections. Personality is as fluid as the body is organic. You can accommodate, but not wholly predict. Anyone who has sewn a garment knows this. So does anyone who’s been in a relationship. C.S. Lewis said this of sociology: “You can’t study men; you can only get to know them.”

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Leaking out all over
Running through the lines
Every time I turn my back
You’re crossing over the Rhine

I fly you to my sailboat
You take the catamaran
And call the sky a creekbed
And the ocean dry land

How can I
Take you in my heart
Unless it’s by the minutes
By the minutes
Couldn’t we
Piece this love together

Reaching out around me
Crates and the forms
Every time you lift one
You’re embellishing norms

Pulling ropes and pulleys
I’m coming up dry
You can laugh; it’s gracious
That you even let me try

How can I
Take you in my heart
Unless it’s by the minutes
By the minutes
Couldn’t we
Piece this love together

(C) 2013 Rebekah Robinson