Choices – A poem

Kayla Ann is holding a poetry contest. You can read about it and enter here: https://kaylaannauthor.wordpress.com/2017/10/21/poetry-competition/.

I love to write poetry and pour my thoughts out onto paper. Sometimes the words just flow out of me, like this poem that I have written for this contest.

Choices

Who would ever think

that a choice

could be so hard to make

What to do

swirls around and around

pros jostling for attention

among the cons that float

to the top of my thoughts.

Why do I want to change

you may ask?

Life is so very short

Your time in the light

is limited.

It is vital

to make the most

of what life has on offer.

Some choices

almost seem

to be made for you.

Others are so much effort

you sweat it out

trying to do the right thing

keep your priorities on track

and not live

to regret

a wrong choice made.

by Robbie Cheadle

***

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Published by robbiesinspiration

Robbie and Michael Cheadle are co-authors of the Sir Chocolate series of books. We both like to write and bake.

60 thoughts on “Choices – A poem”

  16. You know Robbie, I have never pretended to be good at appreciating poetry but this is excellent. It really spoke to me. What I liked as much as the eloquently expressed thoughts was the way you broke up the free meter to capture the doubt & inability to reach resolution as new perspectives jumped into your head. It adds to the claustrophobia that happens when things are caught in our head. (It’s not called talking things out for nothing!)
    The lines ‘swirls around – want to change’ constitute a perfectly symmetrical stanza but are a radical departure from what has gone before and comes after. It is echoed later with ‘trying to do- priorities on track’: but at this point it is more fragmented.
    And that section is preceded by another shift in meter which tops and tails each other as a mirror image ‘Life is so – has on offer’. It creates the impression you are weighing up conflicting thoughts.
    This is what composers like Handel and Mozart did : took a rhythmic phrase and reversed, inverted, echoed, extended and truncate it all for the variation of mood it produced. Michael Nyman wrote a whole musical soundtrack to Peter Greenway’s film Drowning by Numbers using only 4 bars of Mozart’s music with this technique. (Try Wheelbarrow Walk & Sheep and Tides on You-tube).
    What you created is the disturbing gnawing sensation of indecision and the fragmentation that happens when things get caught in your head. It hits at a emotional level created by the rhythmic patterns that go beyond the words you use. That’s what I saw and that is what I appreciated.

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    1. Thank you for your great comment, Paul. It is very helpful that you wrote down your thoughts and interpretations like this. I did intend for the poem to read as a thought process for a difficult decision and you have understood that, and the anguish and complexities involved, which I find hugely encouraging. Thank you again.

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      1. Robbie, it worked really well. I always think hearing someone else’s analysis is really useful. As writers I believe we are often we are not aware of what we achieve or its effect on others because what comes out is instinctive- like a composer’s feel for rhythm and melody to create the mood. I suppose that instinct is the definition of talent.

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      1. Sadly yes. At the time though, that choice seems like the right one to make, and only afterwards, it is realised that it was the wrong choice. I have often thought of life as a road leading to an intersection, do I take the left or right turn…only time will tell, which was the better choice. I have always thought that life is a gamble. Sorry for my ramble 🙂

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  23. This is an inspirational read.. please keep it up.. 😀
    I am new here. I have written a few poems. Please do give them a read. I hope you will like them. Please share your valued feedback.. 😀

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