Life Is What Happens

[ edit poem ] Life Is What Happens What a long, strange life it’s been. Childhood and adolescence were close to normal, I never felt quite right, Never fit my image of a normal kid. Dealing with internal demons for so many years. Adolescence was hell, The frigging dybbuks took control Internally screaming, “your not good enough”, “your dirt”, Externally, manifesting as cystic acne, ugly, festering sores. Then long hair, drugs and rock n roll. Feelings of compassion, and forgiveness. For awhile the voices got quieter, Infrequent periods of contentment, First love, and then the Voices were back. Alcohol, anger, self-hatred, Move away! Leave L.A.! Transplant to Sonoma County Twenty-three years old, alone, frightened. A period of relief, enjoyment, discovery. The search had begun! A time of growth, feelings of great love, for life, for spirit, for myself. Politics grabs hold, Open to new friends, Seeing myself as worthy to be loved. Christine, daughter of the Motor City, Nancy Marie, the wild one, And then she picked me up hitchhiking. How do you measure a life? Marriage, children, many good years. But the demons reappear, This time as a progressive, degenerative disease I watch the life I thought I knew, disintegrate little by little, until I’m stripped close to the bone, And I watch! Three decades spent creating a structure, A way of being, a persona, a box, In which to place all our preconceptions About love, family, commitment, hopes and dreams. Like Schopenhauer’s “Will to Live”, life moves on, Refusing to address the petty personal dreams, wishes, and prayers Focusing instead on the perpetuation of a far less then perfect species --Updated 1/25/2013