POEM: Duckiness

Long the weigh
I miss
Took some clash
Charging another
Once an abject of my affection
Now a worthy suspect
In a lineup
Of numbered whoa's
Among many
Seedy subjects
On the lam
Yet beyond a shadow
Of doubt
To the maxim
Looking like a duck
Walking like a duck
Quacking like a duck
Then duck!
Turning in
Turning out
To be a quack
Apprehending
I've been doctored
Now witnessing
Neither
A ghastly tale
To be chaste
Nor a menacing bill
To be payin'
Strangely just
A beginning
Only under standing
Won mourn
The oblige-ations
Of duckiness
A-mending

This poem is a tribute to the process after the break up of a relationship.  This process is about moving beyond taking everything personally and gaining some detached regarding how poorly we all often behave under stress and duress.  This process is probably best captured in dealing with the end of an intimate relationship, but it applies widely across .  Perhaps the greatest of intimate is that it allows us to take things deeply personally, hopefully in a safe manner.  Unfortunately, when an intimate relationship breaks apart, this brings great pain.  Since both people in an intimate relationship are vulnerable, with lives meshed and knowing each others buttons, a breakup can be an irresistible invitation to hurt those who have hurt us so deeply.  While this may not be a particularly enlightened or healthy way to cope with , hurt people hurting others is perhaps a universal human , from both the receiving and dishing it out ends.

In this poem, this predicament and is transcended by a process of “duckiness.”  Ducky simply means likeable or agreeable.  Things aren't always as they appear.  A generous toward other may very well be the most appropriate default .  Of course, sometimes what looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck is, in fact, a duck.  Nonetheless, even if things are as they appear, our attitude and reaction toward any given situation molds oneself, even defines oneself.  And like they say, honey will get you farther than vinegar.  Our attitudes and behaviors are, well, ours.  What other people do is theirs.  What you do and how you do it does influence other people, but we all have our own to make, and can only be held responsible for our own attitudes and behavior.

Of course, the trickiness of is that yours, mine, and ours is easily confused.  This is probably why , and simple allow to continue and grow.  We all need space to be who we are, without judgment or sanction, that is, to be accepted as the imperfect beings that we are all.  In a wonderful paradox, is often the greatest medium for bringing about !  However, if a relationship is strained or at a breaking point, then boundary issues become more urgent, perhaps even a crisis.  People may start behaving in ways one considers unacceptable, or at least greatly dis-likable.  Accepting the other person the way they are, a pretty good working definition of , does not demand some grand or manipulation of their defects, but rather a healthy boundary for oneself to avoid harm from another's toxic attitude or behavior.  No doubt, moving from a deeply personal meshing of one's lives to a more detached way of relating can be difficult and confusing, especially if one is pondering severing a relationship completely, a relationship that may have provided many good things in each of your lives.  This can be the worst form of in .  While the worst losses in our lives may not bring out the best in us, this is equally true for those around experiencing great .  Such trying situations beg for for ourselves and for others.  There are few situations that will make worse.  Try a little duckiness.  And if doesn't , then it's to duck out…

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