the tent - atwood
Life Stories
Once you get started its fun. So much free space opens up. Rip, crumple, up in flames, out the window. I was born, I grew up, I studied, I loved, I married, I procreated, I said, I wrote, all gone now.
Impenetrable Forest
Voila, you say. Your debts are paid, your emotional problems are solved, your illnesses are cured. Not only that, but your childhood sorrows, the ones that held you back and bogged you down - they've been erased. Now you can get on with it.
Encouraging the Young
I don't mean the very young, those who can still display their midriffs without attracting derision. Boredom's their armour. To them I'm a voice balloon with nothing in it.
No, its the newly conscious young I mean, the ones with ambition and fresh diffidence, those who've learned the hard way that reach exceeds grasp nine times out of ten. How disappointed they are! And if and when they succeed for the first time, how anxious it makes them! They develop insomnia, or claustrophobia or bulimia or fear of heights. Now they will have to live up to themselves. Bummer.
But It Could Still
Things look bad. I admit it. They look worse than they've looked for years, for centuries. They look the worst ever. Perils loom on all sides. But it could still turn out all right.
Once you get started its fun. So much free space opens up. Rip, crumple, up in flames, out the window. I was born, I grew up, I studied, I loved, I married, I procreated, I said, I wrote, all gone now.
Impenetrable Forest
Voila, you say. Your debts are paid, your emotional problems are solved, your illnesses are cured. Not only that, but your childhood sorrows, the ones that held you back and bogged you down - they've been erased. Now you can get on with it.
Encouraging the Young
I don't mean the very young, those who can still display their midriffs without attracting derision. Boredom's their armour. To them I'm a voice balloon with nothing in it.
No, its the newly conscious young I mean, the ones with ambition and fresh diffidence, those who've learned the hard way that reach exceeds grasp nine times out of ten. How disappointed they are! And if and when they succeed for the first time, how anxious it makes them! They develop insomnia, or claustrophobia or bulimia or fear of heights. Now they will have to live up to themselves. Bummer.
But It Could Still
Things look bad. I admit it. They look worse than they've looked for years, for centuries. They look the worst ever. Perils loom on all sides. But it could still turn out all right.