Persona

Hateful image of an unwanted me

That lingers through the air

Like a disgusting perfume

Displaying annoying virtues

And a tedious character:

May I with all of me,

Break your irritating mask,

Tear up your old clothes,

Destroy all of me

And make myself anew.

Vanish from my sight, Persona

And take with you all the memories

Of this rejected, now rejecting me.

Author's Note

Brief Jungian psychology necessary background:
Every person has a part of themselves, Persona, which is composed by the features, the "image", they want to show to the outside world (and in a certain way, to ourselves). It is created and we actively create it potentially throughout our whole lives. This poem comes from my recently grown hostility towards my Persona.

Reviews

[lightsong]

I read poems about human nature, feelings and the playing of the mind, but Your poem shows a degree of awareness to me, the way You addressed the problem without me feeling anger, but more like a calmed mind speaking in the voice of that awareness, knowing he can step forward to the next level in developing one self, Very well done my friend.

[外人 (Gaijin)]

Thank you so much for your kind words :D Interesting you didn't catch anger in my words, I guess I'm not too fluent in this feeling, I tend to lean easier towards frustration than anger. The fact you caught calmness is what I find the most interesting: I wrote this poem in the midst of the strongest (saddest) emotions as on that very day I had my heart broken (which is not unrelated to the writing of this poem).

[lightsong]

Your poem is poweful and does sear with anger, what caught me was that even in this rage I felt how Your mind was aware of it all, maybe calmed was a wrong description to what I meant but I'm not that fluent in English :)

So sorry to hear of Your broken heart, may the gentle rays of warming Sun find a way to it

[Coyote Poetry]

The below is needed often in a life.
May I with all of me,
Break your irritating mask,
Tear up your old clothes,
Destroy all of me
And make myself anew."
I liked the above lines. Real life and thank you for sharing the amazing poetry.
Coyote

[Leslie Philibert]

A great poem from an intelligent poet, the background is brillant, and the poem itself excellent.
READ THIS !

[外人 (Gaijin)]

Thank you very much ! Always so kind :)

[barleygirl]

I really love your message, it's so true-to-life and an important life lesson. I'll never forget when I first studied Tai Chi in my early 30's . . . it was about letting go of the persona & not defining yourself by how you come across or what you do for a living, etc. This can be a defining point in life, when we let go of our persona. Very helpful for writing, since there's a need for humbleness & not needing to be "right" about anything, just observing & sharing what we experience. This is an awesome description of what you're saying (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie