“Yea, and if some god shall wreck me in
the wine-dark sea, even so I will endure..."
~ Homer, The Odyssey
The tossup is always and again
between fate and free will; absence
of choice, versus a universe of unlimited
options. Remember how the cafeteria used
to advertise "Choice of Ice Cold Milk?"
But in the hit movie about multiverses,
the central question that the main
character asks is What if. What if
she had obeyed her father and married
someone else— would she wind up facing
an impending divorce and bankruptcy?
Would her daughter not be stricken
with angst and dysphoria, wear normal
clothes, speak sweetly without yelling?
Sometimes the only possible answer
seems to be Yes. But mostly, this is
the life you've come to know: trash
pickup every Thursday, recycling
every two weeks. Doctor visits,
bloodwork, the uncertainty of
results, the fear of what comes next.
Pizza or Chinese takeout Fridays.
Fortune cookies for dessert.
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
