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Poetry Friday

POTSHOTS

Taking potshots,
To make you dance.
Never giving you a moment to rest
Always, keeping at you
Don’t relax
Can’t relax.
Don’t you dare enjoy your life,
While I’m not enjoying mine.
I’m too mad,
Too scared,
I don’t know what to do.
I shoot, you dance
I cry inside, and snarl outside
Like a dog chasing it’s tail
And never getting where I want to go.


Speaking of potshots, I saw "August, Osage County" the other day. It was an authentic picture of dysfunctional family dynamics and addiction.   Having grown up in a house with many of the same behaviors, I could really identify.  I saw some new reasons for actions in the past.  When you are living the situation, it is almost impossible to do more than just survive. 

As a child, I certainly had no tools or means of getting perspective or gaining understanding of motivations, pain, experience, rage, and fear.  I knew what I felt and I decided what I thought everyone else was feeling.  I thought I knew why everyone else in my family acted as they did.  I had no idea.  I still don't if I am honest, as none of us can ever really know what another person is thinking.  

But today, I have a much better understanding of people and of the frailty and the incredible will to survive that we humans have.  I am disheartened and saddened by the brutal, cruel and treacherous treatment some of us heap on the rest of us.  And I am in awe seeing how person after person overcomes, adapts, manages, grows and maintains compassion, love, and joy. 

The movie was honest and real.  The acting was superb.  I was captured by the story and felt strongly about the outcome.   It is a very tough world we live in, and I am grateful for the opportunity to see where I came from with fresh eyes, in order to better appreciate where I am now.
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