Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Last Resort First

Last Resort First

The last resort, we try it first.
We pretend all else has failed,
elbow our way into desperation.

Big changes happen faster.
Families leave large homes
for small ones, or for condos.

Cartoons provide a model
for effective decision making.
Shove the broken car off a cliff.

Popular new first date activities?
Elopement and annulment,
and shopping for burial plots.

University enrollment skyrockets
and plummets. Those who have
tasted failure rush to the bakery,

the bar, beg to work the register.
Abandoned houses are bulldozed.
Concrete is poured into the cavern

formerly reserved for the new
subway line. Long before that
beachfront commune opened

and citizens of Detroit fled to
Canada, as refugees, we forgot
that our panic had been pretend.

5 comments

  1. You have captured well the feeling of last resort. The fourth stanza just stopped me.

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  2. This is so good! You do capture the panic, the rush.

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  3. This is the best...before I read all of "Those who have
    tasted failure rush to the bakery,...the bar, beg to work the register." I thought you had a great suggestion there; run to the bakery : )

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  4. Love how you open and close with pretend and as we read all the lines in between those lines I forgot it was just pretend.xo

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  5. I like the idea that we try out the last resort first, like envisioning the worst case scenario.

    ReplyDelete

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