Campfire - And Other Poems

Psycho(logy)

I always thought it was just so cool
How science had proven that if one wore red
It made them look more attractive-
Then you came along and said
If instead of focusing on the allure of red
We all just tried to smile some more
There would be no dearth for warmth

You went on about how it made no sense
That they spent millions upon millions doing research
On if people obeyed, and what they'd do
In glassy labs behind locked-up doors,
Then argued about validity;
You remarked that people would get on much further
If they remembered they could control only themselves

What you'd say I would concede to
Still when I happened to screw things up
I found myself wondering whether it was
My social learning I had to thank
Or if my GABA receptors simply made me mad
You shut me up though, with your simple comments
On how what mattered was making amends

For all my models on memory and learning
Tidy little packages on semantic processing
I couldn't begin to properly explain why,
I'd find myself in the dead of the night
Thinking about all the things you said:
The lessons you'd taught, without making them so
Somehow had managed to stick the most

'Most' being a relative term, of course-
All the times we'd spend together
Would send my spirits so high
And still all I could think about was
Because of the first time when we spoke,
And you made me laugh with all your jokes-
It was classical conditioning was at play.

In your own way you got me to see
The real trick didn't truly lie within
A thorough understanding of people's psychology
But instead it was to simply just be;
I hope you're proud that I learned this at least
Because the first time that I dreamt of you
Freud didn't have to tell me what it meant.

*

I'd love to hear what you thought of this! :)