Happy Family Portrait

The picture is like any other.

 

The father stands protectively over his family,

a proud grin plastered on his face.

His eyes shining with utter happiness.

Arms resting around his beautiful wife.

 

The mother looking dearly at her husband and children.

Her dress ironed to perfection for the occasion,

and her lips lined with a deep scarlet to show off her full toothed smile.

 

The children look brightly into the camera,

grinning widely with their parents.

 

But take a closer look and you will see the fathers eyes shining brightly in a drunken haze.

You will see the un-shed  tears in the mothers eyes, or the large purple bruise hidden expertly under her make-up.

You will see that underneath the bright smiling faces, the children are screaming for help.

 

You will see the truth about truth,

how it can mold itself into something it is not

how deceptive it can be.

You will see how quickly it can get you under it’s manipulation until you are left yelling at the top of your lungs

 

liar 

 

liar 

 

liar 

 

 

Reflection:

In this poem there is a family picture that show a perfect family, but behind it is an abusive home where no one is happy. I put emphasis on the fake happiness portrayed in the picture by the forced smiles on the peoples faces. I wrote this poem about how the truth can be altered and changed into a lie, but still be seen as the truth by others. The family picture shows a perfect family but behind the picture lies the brutal truth. I have always found perception and how it can be different for every individual to be interesting. How something can be viewed differently in so many ways. In the future I want to focus more on this theme in the future because it is such a common theme in real life that it would be interesting to to discuss in poetry. I wanted it to seem like truth was an entity of its own in this poem, and that by manipulating the truth from others, truth its self had secrets and told lies of its own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

 

 

 

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One thought on “Happy Family Portrait

  1. Dear Aliza,

    I really love the idea behind this piece and using pictures and other artwork in writing. I especially loved the lines “But take a closer look and you will see the fathers eyes shining brightly in a drunken haze. You will see the un-shed tears in the mothers eyes, or the large purple bruise hidden expertly under her make-up. You will see that underneath the bright smiling faces, the children are screaming for help.” because it really shows their suffering and pain hidden behind their picture-perfect family image.

    To improve, I do think that the poem could have flowed a little bit better because it did seem slightly choppy at times.

    Love,
    Kayla

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