2 posts tagged “poetry”

"Change"

Change is a drug
Antidote and addiction.
Some cling petrified, solitary sparrows on a wire
Spying a forever train of movement below
Yet never joining the exodus of those
Evolving
    Growing
        Changing.

Others die if they don’t disappear
In a gust of change
Blowing them somewhere
Better or worse
As long as it’s not here
Or now.
Flower
    Petals
        Dismembered
Surrounded, enslaved,
Aimless and bloodied
By their taskmaster—

Change.

I thought about quitting coffee today.

I'm repeatedly told by students that it's bad for me, it will give me cancer, and that it will stunt my growth.

I stopped growing at 16. I'm 26. I guess that means my 30-something growth spurt is out of the question. Plus, I just now I saw an inspirational poster on the wall, with this hardcore rock-climber guy reaching for words in big black sideways letters spelling "DON'T QUIT." There were some other words in small font that I couldn't read, but if I tilted my head just enough to the side, "DON'T QUIT" was staring me right between the eyes--a message meant just for me, at this particular moment.

I feel like Robert Frost in the middle of the woods. But let's be real. The road is not diverging. There is no fork. I'm not confused about the path I'm going to take. I thought about quitting coffee the way you would think about squirting mustard on top of pancakes. How absurd. How obscene. How utterly unnatural, and, possibly, psychologically damaging.  I'm not a quitter. I'm not going to grow anymore. I'm 5'9'' until osteoporosis sets in, if I'm fortunate to make it that far, and at that point, I'm sure I'll have other concerns. Like figuring out how to reach the pedals.