gum tree
Friday, Nov. 22, 2002
�Look, if you had one shot, one opportunityTo seize everything you ever wanted�One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip? - Eminem�
I�m not a big huge fan of Eminem but I can�t help but turn up some of his songs. There�s just something about this guy that reminds me of that feeling I used to get when I was younger when I heard that wrigleys doublemint gum commercial. Something about that tree with packs of gum growing off of it just really made me grin from ear to ear. All those twins�. Something so cheesy but happy go lucky about it. Not to say Eminem is happy go lucky, but somehow I hear some of his songs and I can�t help but feel like I have to move some part of my body along with the tune.
Now these lyrics keep coming straight at me. Would you capture it or just let it slip? Now I�m never going to get my groove on and stand on a stage and rap. But I do have things I want. Don�t we all? And really when you get right down to it all, if you walked past a gum tree would you pick some gum or would you stand there saying �hell that can�t be real, there has to be a catch?� What if you had to get a ladder and reach for the gum? Would you pick it then?
I have a gum tree growing in my backyard and I�m very aware of it, and if I have to put on a skirt, can�t have sleepovers, have to do EVERYTHING right, so be it. I want the gum on the end of the limb. And if �he� is my one shot, then so be it. I don�t care if the rule book is as long and complicated as a bible�.I don�t care if my brain oozes out of my left ear thinking too hard. I have a clear vision of what I want and who cares how I have to get there.
And no this isn�t about me wanting to be with �him�. That�s the furthest thing from my mind. I�m just not that damn perfect. He needs perfect girl. I�m not that. I�ll never be that. I�m not a size 5 with nice smooth hair that never moves. I�m not not not!!! Nothing wrong with him wanting that, it�s just not part of the package with me. I have messy hair and curves and that�s just that.
And another thing, someday I�ll stand on my own two feet, and when I do I won�t forget the ladder I pushed across the backyard. I�ll stand there chomping on tons of gum with a big grin. My life on my terms.
I don�t understand it all, that doesn�t matter, I�m not supposed to. You can�t know what the other side is like until you swim the channel and arrive there. You can speculate all you want about what ifs and maybe this and maybe that. Fact is reality is never the way you imagined. I imagine nothing but a chance.
One shot.
One opportunity.
One moment.
I want to capture it.
-PoeticaL
