Poem #17-2010

I know who I used to be
I know I'm not that
and I'm happy about it
I also know who I want to be
I know I'm not that either
and I'm not happy about it
What I do know is not as important
as what I want to know
and what I want to know
is how to be who I want to be
without forgetting who I am
in the process

But this is all "why" stuff
and not "what" stuff
Analysis and questioning
not living the answers

Poem #16-2010

I vary
from dream vapors
to crystal revelations
from warm glasses of lousy beer
to expensive Irish whiskey on the rocks
from reading Hemingway
to Sunday morning cartoons
from liberal leanings
to conservative crassness
from intellectual inquiry
to barroom bawdiness
from narcissism
to unworthy depression
from ecological sensitivity
to wanton wastefulness
from youthful vigor
to tired senility
from jacket and tie
to jeans and T-shirt

I can do all of this
in the space of a day
and sometimes even an hour
or a minute

No police come to my door
no notice appears in the newspaper
chiding me for my inconsistencies

At best a lover, friend, or worse
will point it out
giving me pause to see if I can
remember the person I was
when I opined oppositely

Most of the time, I figure
it won't matter a hundred years from now
and so I turn to more pressing matters
like whether to write a poem
or commit suicide