Reciprocity And Response Are Everything In Relationships, Friendships: The Making Of Meaning Poem by Dennis Ryan

Sunday morning, August 13, 2023 at 8: 17 a.m.; poem finished at 8: 55 a.m.; Tuesday afternoon, August 15,2023 at 5: 06 p.m.;
Wednesday morning, August 16, 2023, begun at 7: 56 a.m. and finished at 8: 36 a.m.; Thursday morning, August 24, 2023, begun at 7: 57 a.m. and finished at 8: 21 a.m.

—this poem is for Sarah J, who has gone silent, neither responding nor reciprocating for these past two weeks as of
this morning, Thursday, August 24, 2024 at 8: 21 a.m.

Reciprocity and response are everything in relationships,
friendships; otherwise, the relationships, friendships don't
exist though they may be referred to as such by these self-
same nouns—nouns awander, adrift for lack of meaning.
(Life's about meaning—making meaning, this its purpose,
discovering new meaning, new joys, purpose in relationships.)
Out of balance, untenable, life becomes untenable for long
periods of time—this report is merely factual. Fact—Karen, Lexi, Meredith, Amanda, and Merrideth have been made
aware of this, have been rendered past-tense Proper Nouns, and are now mere afterthoughts. Selfish, vain, egotistical, careless, deceit-ridden—lacking so much, so much more, mucho mas more than just these five descriptors picture—attitudes, personalities, and then their resulting behaviors. Meredith M of Raleigh—'a neighbor' of sorts—has been
worst of all: out of spite, resentment for me for rejecting her,
she killed the perilla in her front-yard garden on Norman Drive about one month ago. No pretty-flower earrings to wear now? So, so sad? Not so—she received a well-deserved response from me, but could not woman-up, does not take rejection
well—and thus the perilla dead-black in her front-yard garden.
I tried to speak to her afterwards, but she wouldn't have it—
she was not happy as I made light of the situation for her benefit; she wasn't at all accepting, receptive—I don't understand her and don't want to. The others have past histories with me: Karen, most of all,30+ years, the last
15 or so a hollow veneer—she has never gotten past her
lying, two-faced ways. Leave it to say, I finally sent her,
the others packing. I can deal with only so much careless,
selfish behavior, my own included. I've made several new friends of late and wonder how that will go; stay tuned;
results may well vary, be coming real soon … The process
is like selecting from a box of chocolates, someone once
said, and when the weather is hot outside—as it is right now,
being summer—chocolates melt, get sticky don't they? Selection can truly prove a mess. However, however—everything, everyone becomes a 'however' at this point, glittering, glistening, shimmering conjunctions—junctions, conjunctions serve varied purposes, and the present one suggests contradiction, leading perhaps into ambiguity—
the ethics thereof a la Simon de Beauvoir, her disquisition.