Headstall's Poetry Prompts - 5. Chapter 5 Cyber Friends

On 08/21/2015 05:55 AM, Victor Gutte said:

this time I don't really have many words to say Gary but this poem is really beautiful

These words are more than enough... thank you, Victor, my young cyber friend . Cheers... Gary...

I've read this several times, Gary, and I'm going to give up. There is no way I can express how this poem made me feel - or at least not differently from everyone else. All I can say is I'm grateful and proud to be your friend, Robin to your Batman.

On 08/23/2015 12:02 AM, Timothy M. said:

I've read this several times, Gary, and I'm going to give up. There is no way I can express how this poem made me feel - or at least not differently from everyone else. All I can say is I'm grateful and proud to be your friend, Robin to your Batman.

Thanks, Robin. You've said more than enough. I am proud to be Batman to your Robin . Thanks for reviewing, my good friend,,, cheers... Gary...

A very familiar feeling to all of us, I think. So much of our social concepts have been altered by the Internet. This is brilliant poem that says a lot to many people. I'm glad it came 'out of the blue' to you.

On 08/26/2015 11:50 AM, AC Benus said:

A very familiar feeling to all of us, I think. So much of our social concepts have been altered by the Internet. This is brilliant poem that says a lot to many people. I'm glad it came 'out of the blue' to you.

It really did come out of the blue, and surprised me. I think the feelings that are in it had been simmering in me for a while. It means a lot that people identified with it so easily, and liked it. This one experience taught me to go with the flow if my brain wants to deviate from the plan. Thanks for reviewing it, AC... cheers... Gary

I "liked" this beautiful poem the day you posted it, Gary, because indeed the feeling is so familiar to us all.

Since then I have been debating to share an experience that shows the darker side of an internet community and I think I should.

Some 20 years ago I was part of a closely knit group in a gay chatroom. We shared good and bad things on a daily basis. Had each other's e-mail adresses and some even their home adresses. We sent each other parcels etc.
One of the guys was a Polish man aged 19 at the time. Always pleasant and open. He had made it clear, that he could not be "out" in his community and especially not to his parents.
One day he came in the chatroom and was very incoherent. After a lot of questioning we got out of him that the day before he had been drinking with "friends" who spiked his drink and when he was helpless and drugged, raped him. He had been a virgin and cried out to us for help. Us, the only ones who knew about him.
Help we were not able to give. Smileys loose their value at that point.
That night was the last we ever heard of him. E-mails came back as the account was closed. A letter I sent to his house and worded carefully in case his parents might see before him got no response.
I never got an e-mail or a postcard, although he knew both my addresses.
Our group of friends slowly dissolved after this experience. It just was not fun anymore.
It haunts me to this day to think of what may have become of him.

On 08/28/2015 05:59 AM, J.HunterDunn said:

I "liked" this beautiful poem the day you posted it, Gary, because indeed the feeling is so familiar to us all.

 

Since then I have been debating to share an experience that shows the darker side of an internet community and I think I should.

 

Some 20 years ago I was part of a closely knit group in a gay chatroom. We shared good and bad things on a daily basis. Had each other's e-mail adresses and some even their home adresses. We sent each other parcels etc.

One of the guys was a Polish man aged 19 at the time. Always pleasant and open. He had made it clear, that he could not be "out" in his community and especially not to his parents.

One day he came in the chatroom and was very incoherent. After a lot of questioning we got out of him that the day before he had been drinking with "friends" who spiked his drink and when he was helpless and drugged, raped him. He had been a virgin and cried out to us for help. Us, the only ones who knew about him.

Help we were not able to give. Smileys loose their value at that point.

That night was the last we ever heard of him. E-mails came back as the account was closed. A letter I sent to his house and worded carefully in case his parents might see before him got no response.

I never got an e-mail or a postcard, although he knew both my addresses.

Our group of friends slowly dissolved after this experience. It just was not fun anymore.

It haunts me to this day to think of what may have become of him.

I am so sorry for taking so long to respond to such a powerful review. I felt the pain and uncertainty you must have felt, and I want to thank you for sharing how incredibly powerless you must have felt in this instance. you couldn't give him a hug or even consoling face to face words to help him through such a harrowing, soul destroying experience. I think the only way I can look at it is that he at least had you and your group to talk to. He wasn't completely alone in this. It may not have been enough, but it may not have been enough if you were friends who could visit one another either. I can understand how it haunts you... there can be a darker side to cyber friendship, as you tragically illustrate, but I will choose to look at the positive side... you were there for him when he needed to reach out, and that is what friends do. I hope some day you will find closure over this, and thank you for sharing your story with me... sometimes the bad is as illuminating and helpful as the good. I will never forget this... cheers to you... Gary.

Gary, this was so cool!... My poetry just arrives from somewhere.. I never work on a poem. I may scrawl it on paper and a word may change here and there when I write on Word; but if things don't just flow out of me, I don't keep them.
I read J Hunter Dunn's review of this and his experience. That is the sad part. Friendships online can be undone is a moment and if that person blocks you, there is no way back. No discussion, no apology, that makes me sad.
I don't block people. There is always a chance if we talk.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem.. its magic...
tim

On 09/28/2015 01:18 AM, Mikiesboy said:

Gary, this was so cool!... My poetry just arrives from somewhere.. I never work on a poem. I may scrawl it on paper and a word may change here and there when I write on Word; but if things don't just flow out of me, I don't keep them.

I read J Hunter Dunn's review of this and his experience. That is the sad part. Friendships online can be undone is a moment and if that person blocks you, there is no way back. No discussion, no apology, that makes me sad.

I don't block people. There is always a chance if we talk.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem.. its magic...

tim

Thanks, Tim. I didn't plan this one... it just came out, and quickly. It's one of the things I like most about poetry. The freedom of it is invigorating. Thanks for reviewing and for saying this was magic. Cheers, my friend... Gary...