The Art of Overthinking

I wrote a poem last semester that connected to the idea of overthinking. I am a Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) member, and one of my favorite pieces to see is Bruce Nauman’s “Make Me Think Me.” The art piece is so simple and, at the same time, so beautiful. It inspires me whenever I see it – even have a picture of it saved on my phone. I have attached the poem below.

Creating Problems That Weren’t Even There

A response to Bruce Nauman’s “Make Me Think Me” (1984)

When does telling the truth

Ever help anybody?

When you realize you’ve been lying

To yourself first.

When you restrict yourself to hidden borders,

Like a painting in a frame.

When you look around and realize they’re all visiting

And are away from their homes.

When you look within your soul and discover

That home doesn’t follow you.

Home left you in the rearview mirror

Like the original scripts on my surface.

Maybe that one night at that fancy restaurant

Before you both went your separate ways,

You should have told her how you really felt.

How much pain from your life she takes away.

The joy she brings in those moments of peace.

Like this moment, where it’s just you and me.

I have mistakes all over my body.

I covered them, hid them, brushed over them,

And moved on acting like they didn’t exist.

What about her makes your thoughts freeze

Like the second’s hand on a nineteen forty’s Omega?

When she’s gone and out of view, can you know

That she’s even thinking about you?

What are you going to do after you take a picture

Of me on this wall in this room around these people?

Are you going to think I’ve impacted you

In some significant way – that I’ve changed you?

Maybe I have.

Maybe in that moment when you saw me,

You thought of home and how it’s still there

Like the tape meandering across my chest.

Maybe you thought of that girl and the moments

When nothing mattered except her.

I want you to preserve those moments like me on this wall.

What about the mistakes?

I wouldn’t be hanging here without them.

You wouldn’t be standing here without her.

We wouldn’t be who we are without what we think.

Maybe start thinking for yourself instead of thinking of her.

* * * * *

Isn’t poetry beautiful?

Nicholas