Violence Next Door
I lived beside an angry woman for more than a year
her violent hatred used to rattle her house
and upset mine.
Looking back now
I think what I might have witnessed was all the violent
near misses
of creation.
Life is the overcoming(?)
the surpassing of the longest odds(?)
Being happy, knowing love
maybe those odds are even longer(?)
Maybe without love
there are no odds.
-Jeremy Nathan Marks
I am Jeremy Nathan Marks, the author and editor of "The Sand County." I am an environmentalist and a doctoral candidate in history at Western University in London, Ontario. This blog is designed to be an exploration of the natural world, our relationship with it and the necessities that govern life on Earth. Here you will find a little bit of everything that brings us to that interface of human dreams, desire, repose and the wisdom, austerity and sublime power that the natural world offers. I hope you will consider posting your thoughts and opinions while you are here. Your suggestions and your insights are welcome. Thank you for visiting!
Jeremy Nathan Marks
Jeremy, this is intense. I honestly would rather live next to than alongside that. But then, you shift. Jeremy-style, you switch to how life should be, and is for some blessed of us. Great poem.
We lived next door to a family that is just awful. I could go on and on. What prompted this is something that actually just happened this evening.
They moved out last August but since January the husband has been over next door every weekend and almost every night of the week “re-modeling.” His wife (who is the worst of all four of them) doesn’t come by much (thankfully). Anyway, she came by this evening and all of a sudden we hear this tremendous bang and our entire townhouse shook. One of our dogs immediately ran upstairs and hid. I about had a heart attack from the sudden noise and the way the house felt it was being bombarded.
This woman used to do that all of the time (like I said, I have stories). But Michelle had just come home from work and this woman knew she had an audience.
Oh, my. I am so sorry. I wonder quite a bit about those who are physically violent–why they are so destructive to people and things. Is it because, inside, they feel destroyed somehow? Kind of a perverse form of externalizing an internal chaos. Now, I think the muse has been tweaked again…
Thank you very much for the compliment. I like knowing that I convey optimism in what I write. Those last two lines almost didn’t happen. Almost.
Definitely run with that one. Of course I want to see what you see and how you see it.
I have not written about the experience before because it never seemed like the time to do it until now. It just came to me that I should share this and share it now.
Will do–and thanks for the nudging.
Sometimes negative examples are powerful teachings. Thank you for the reminder.
Very true. You’re welcome.
You have moved me. I grew up in a home like that. I do not live like that now. I live in beauty and joy.
I am glad you don’t have to live like that anymore. I know from what I have witnessed that there are few things more dangerous to a person’s survival than to have love withdrawn and their spirit assaulted.
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