“Inevitability” by Alan Brain
submit to the change
accept that the choices
were written in fiction
defiance profits no one
Choices
All posts tagged Choices
“Steps and Doors” by Beverly Menke
too many doors
unaccustomed to thresholds
he hesitates
too young to learn from the past
too smart to trust the future
“Choices” by Luz Harpley
devil or angel
each voice in my ear
how to judge
unaccustomed advice
both messengers
carry a deity’s
answer to prayer
one has virtue
the other pretends
one is blessed
the other condemned
fingers crossed
have no power
the coin toss
no true guarantee
all I know to be
mortally certain
is I must take
action immediately
in the now of the end
I’ve no choice but
to follow my heart
as I’ve done
through my life
with no voice in my ear
save the human ones
memories spoken
by actions of those
whom I’ve loved
(From my book Ephemera)
“Things Go Either Way” by Don Gray
(an homage to Søren Kierkegaard, inspired by friend and fellow poet Peter Notehelfer’s thoughtful recent piece on “Conscience”)
we are that binary substance
the stuff of the A and the B
philosophically either and or
the aesthetic and ethic
dissimilar twins of existence
who struggle for primacy
whence lay the higher-most calling
the predicate path to perfection
profound are the quandaries
begging the questions
that tantalize radical choices
defining our reason and purpose
the back and forth testing of truths
that by turns and by time
against backdrops of faith
renders clarity giving distinction
to how moral lines
come to conscience
converged in perspective
revealing the ultimate portrait
that is and remains our real self
“Turning Point” by Gabrielle Matser
live your life
in the now
not the then
nor the when
here and now
in its present
perfection of
heady vitality
duly immediate
taste it and
touch it and
tuck it among
your retrievable
memories
see what the
here-and-gone
moment may
hold in the folds
of its purpose
breathe deep
of enriched air
experience
fleetingly offered
to lovers of time
built from
intricate instants
each one quite
unique and unlikely
to come
back around
if you miss it
you might just
have missed
your one chance
at a turning point
catalyst given
to stop-starting
life with a veer
in direction
a fortunate bend
toward tomorrows
who but for that
singular moment
could never
have made
themselves known
we become
from experience
all of our private
eternities stem
from ignoring
or noticing
pinpoints of time
“Winding River” by Mr AMeeBa
The mortuaries for young hopes and dreams
Are built in middle age when first we find
Real obstacles impede the flow of streams
We mapped for navigation in our mind
But callow yearnings for romantic end
Should not be coffin-laid before their time
Such wonder is their power to transcend
The tortured course that challenges our prime
Experience yields choices grown more sage
Less likely to abjure a changing line
We modify our prospects as we age
Through crisis, chance or canny redesign
What matters after all is done and tied
Is did we find the bliss beneath the pride
(originally posted April 2013 – written years earlier)
“Choices We Make” by Lynne Taetzsch
term of art
social contract
default preservation
of natural rights
an enshrinement
of two-party choices
enabling a freemarket
freehand employment
it underscores truth
about systems of
capitalist economics
that freedom is risky
acknowledging
he who has earned
the most choices
possesses real power
Tlaloc – Aztec Deity
rain is mine
to command
to call down with
benevolent flourish
or halt with a
brandish of temper
either way
I am Tlaloc
the giver of glory
through abundance
of prosperous yields
or through famine
of punishing drought
either way
will your story
be written
forever on stones
of the pyramids
praised upon altars
or damned in the runnels
either way
it is you whose
behavior will choose
from my gifts
but as son of the war gods
I may nonetheless
move to destroy you
(originally posted November 2013)
“Essence” by Pat Stacy
good men and bad
one common identity
borne by red blood
yet distinctions
will set them apart
by their choices
deliberate calculus
testing the values
at various points
of continuum one
dead-straight spectrum
the only true path
between simplified
black and white answers
the colors of ethos
indifferently selfless
or selfish of light
the electromagnetic
affinities drawn
into tribes of belief
who attract or repel
individual egos the
human holistic experience
bound by biology
finding its freemost
expression in personal
mindful morality
each man an actor
an entity
owning his judgment
“Cosmic Destiny” by Megan Duncanson
patient destiny
waits like an unused grave
watching your choices
(originally posted December 2013)
Poesy plus Polemics 