Punch in the gut
I borrowed the title from a friend, but I'm sure he won't mind.
Definition: Those situations where you find yourself, quite unaccountably, sprawled somewhere at ground level. Certain basic rules of the world have, really very unfairly in your opinion, altered significantly. Gravity, apparently, being one. The world suddenly requires quite a lot more holding on than you remember.
Important events that you would assume might be accompanied by a punch in the gut often aren't. Death, for example. Death has different tactics, a more creeping quality that steals into you while someone distracts you with the news of it, and pockets your emotions smoothly. Death leaves you staring at the backs of your hands, wondering just how it is that everything is still in its place, quite whole, yes, quite whole, except for those curiously empty parts you appear to have missplaced somewhere about your middle.
No, the punch in the gut is something different.
It is both sudden, and anticipated. Often you have a few minutes to see it coming, but nothing quite prepares you for when it hits. Sort of like the tsunami might have been. You have perhaps enough time to say, oh that looks really rather large, don't you think? And then something has laid you flat.
And it's often something so very very small. Like when you ask someone you used to love, carelessly, whether they're sleeping with so-and-so. And maybe you already even know the answer.
And suddenly you're staring at sky, wondering, just how did that happen?
At this point, you would dearly like to toss off some witty comment that would demonstrate just how okay you are with all of this, but unfortunately you have become somewhat preoccupied with getting a firm handhold on the ground just now. Rather tiresome, that.
Perhaps, once you have dealt with these more pressing concerns, you might borrow a smile from someone else and try it on for size. And they'll pretend they don't notice how it doesn't quite fit you.
See, just fine.
Yes. Just fine.
Definition: Those situations where you find yourself, quite unaccountably, sprawled somewhere at ground level. Certain basic rules of the world have, really very unfairly in your opinion, altered significantly. Gravity, apparently, being one. The world suddenly requires quite a lot more holding on than you remember.
Important events that you would assume might be accompanied by a punch in the gut often aren't. Death, for example. Death has different tactics, a more creeping quality that steals into you while someone distracts you with the news of it, and pockets your emotions smoothly. Death leaves you staring at the backs of your hands, wondering just how it is that everything is still in its place, quite whole, yes, quite whole, except for those curiously empty parts you appear to have missplaced somewhere about your middle.
No, the punch in the gut is something different.
It is both sudden, and anticipated. Often you have a few minutes to see it coming, but nothing quite prepares you for when it hits. Sort of like the tsunami might have been. You have perhaps enough time to say, oh that looks really rather large, don't you think? And then something has laid you flat.
And it's often something so very very small. Like when you ask someone you used to love, carelessly, whether they're sleeping with so-and-so. And maybe you already even know the answer.
And suddenly you're staring at sky, wondering, just how did that happen?
At this point, you would dearly like to toss off some witty comment that would demonstrate just how okay you are with all of this, but unfortunately you have become somewhat preoccupied with getting a firm handhold on the ground just now. Rather tiresome, that.
Perhaps, once you have dealt with these more pressing concerns, you might borrow a smile from someone else and try it on for size. And they'll pretend they don't notice how it doesn't quite fit you.
See, just fine.
Yes. Just fine.
posted by Riona at
6:47 AM
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