my son & street art, Richmond, VA
Each day we are faced with choices…what time to stop hitting the snooze button, regular or decaf, cream & sugar or black, silk or cotton, or none, right turns, left turns, argue or accept, work or play sick…whatever your choices, one thing that holds true is—
we are a product of the choices we make.
some choices don’t require much thought, whether they are simple and rote to memory already or we just don’t care. Some are impossible and seem to have no good answers. Sometimes choice is made for us, and sometimes it is taken from us. especially if we are frozen in the moment and can’t choose.
we can even fool ourselves at times by thinking that by not choosing we are not making a choice, but then again we really are.
our choices say much about who we are.
yesterday i was offline the entire day as the result of an audit. i spent the day reviewing files because the convening authorities will be there monday to do the same. another agency across town closed their doors recently because of the size of the fine they received for choosing to ignore the details of their reporting.
our choices have consequences.
my son spent the extra money he had earned doing chores only the next day to see the thing he really wanted. when he asked me for more money, i did not give it to him, but reminded him of the choice he made the day prior. and i did not say ‘i told you so.’ smiles.
we have to live with our choices.
my name is Brian Miller and today i will be your host for Poetics and our prompt it is multiple choice. There are so many possibilities you can write about, but make a choice, write about a choice, or its consequences, or and unmade choice, or…well i will let you figure it out. hopefully i got you thinking. now choose…
here is how it works:
- Write a poem that deals with choice and post it to your webpage
- Click on the Mr Linky button below and enter the direct URL to the poem and your name
- Visit others that have posted. This is crucial to me. I really can’t stand poets that enter these things and like the attention but never visit anyone. It is all about community for me
- Get the word out, tweet…i will def retweet, facebook, whatever your social media choice is
- Have fun
See you out on the trail… ~Brian
dVerse 
Love that picture, and having your lad there for the scale is even better.
That street art series is such a success.
It is just possible that my choice will be not to take part: this is so challenging. Who knows, something may turn up in my head overnight, but I don’t feel it brewing just yet 🙂 Have fun.
so challenging…i was trying to keep it wide open…smiles….thank you though, i really enjoyed the street art festival and have been living off the pics i took…smiles…
Ooh look, first at the bar, though I spotted a couple of names with Mr Linky so you must be hiding somewhere behind the jukebox. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind it I posted a piece I had actually written for a different prompt a few weeks back but it was all about choosing which path to take so it seemed fitting. I’ll help polish the glasses til the others get here.
Doh! I was first, Aprille must have sneaked in whilst I was getting my polishing cloth!
sorry i was ducked behind the bar when you peaked in…really enjoyed your piece, the repetition really works and loved the imagery…
Great way to get some ideas flowing, bri. Off to see what I can choose to write about.
hey there hedge….how grows the garden today? smiles.
Garden…..now you’re talking: lots of choices there:
….to hoe or not to hoe….with dire consequences.
Growing words on a cloud of sound is my latest trick, bri.
great prompt… i made the choice to spend a few days in barcelona and write a poem anyway…smiles…couldn’t resist as the prompt is just too good.. i got up at 3:30 this morning to get the flight and then walked miles and miles and miles in this awesome city…so really tired but will try to catch a few before i fall into a comatose sleep….smiles
Gadding about again, claudia, Gaudi-wards?
Hope your weather is better than up North.
smiles… gaudi is absolutely fascinating…this man was such a heluva talented artist..
oh and the weather is great… made miro, castello montjuic and the old port today…tomorrow picasso… if my feet could talk, they would heavily complain…smiles
that would be considered rubbing in in by the way…smiles…
ya know…i was just “reporting”… smiles
you walked miles and mile and flew to barcelona just to do a poem for this…you are dedicated claudia…smiles….i am just jealous…i hear there are nice views atop the castles.
Your poems of places are my only form of world travel, Claudia–thanks for taking us along on these little jaunts. I am virtually rubbing your tired feet.
thank you…smiles.. your virtual rubbing helped…they feel much better today..
Great picture of your son Brian. That’s a fantastic piece of artwork. Nice choice for a prompt too. 🙂
smiles. he was tickled that i was going to use it….he had his last baseball game today…and he got MVP of his team…and i am rather pink at this point so trying to cool off a bit…smiles….look forward to seeing what you got bren
Okay… I’m in. **crosses fingers**
oh yeah you are in…smiles….
I’ve posted a piece about the choices we make, the persona we create and the passing nature of it all. On my way to shake hands with mr linky. Smashin prompt Brian … Enjoyed the read
thank you sir brian…i will be over in a minute to see the choices you have made…
The title of my poem is “Pervasive Anxiety” about mistakes & mishaps…
http://poeticlicensee.wordpress.com/?s=pervasive+anxiety
This is a nightmare prompt! It wasn’t by choice that I am late…or I guess…maybe…deep down…it was? Might go fiction here and pen a post about one who has made right choices… we’ll have to see…I much prefer a position on the fence 😉
smiles….nightmare…i guess some choices are…look forward to seeing what you got tash…
Hi Brian – I don’t know why I chose this subject (my subject in poem) but when I saw your hints it is what came to mind- that along with reading the paper.
A very interesting topic generally – for thought as well as poetry. And your note about visiting others – it does take time and it can be hard to make the time, but it really is inspiring and thought-provoking to see what others come up with and, even a relatively selfish person (I probably qualify – or at least I am a person on a very tight leash in terms of time) can find that it really feeds one’s own work, so should be done on that basis alone. Good to bring up. K.
thanks k…your poem is incredible…and thanks for hte encouragement about what i said…to do it right, it really does take time…and i know that people can not visit everyone…you can see those that dont and pick them out pretty easy after a couple weeks and eventually people stop commenting…i would rather people know why than just disappear…its interactive…
Yes, it’s a bit like a writing class– you have to read other people’s work! Or a conversation! And writers do probably like talking more than listening! (I’m guessing.) But, of course, you learn from listening and reading. Even if you see things you don’t like, you learn from them, as you can pick out – well, this doesn’t work for me, but it works for that person or that commenter or maybe not.
Well, you and Claudia and Hedge and Chaz and Tash and the others- don’t mean to slight anyone- are great models in this.
So after all this, have to go out in a bit so won’t look as much for a while, but will come back – thanks! k.
i’ve learned so much by reading other people’s work, different styles, different personalities, a different approach to the same topic (this is what i find esp. interesting with the prompts) and i think in a community like dVerse we have a bit what the early poets had in a real pub… getting to know each other, getting inspired, new ideas, a different point of view, build relationships…and it’s sad when some poets just sit at home and close the door… joan miro for example met regularly with other artists – painters and poets – and they were a big influence in how his style developed..
Agree–art doesn’t exist in a vacuum–I don’t think you an sit home and feed solely off your own ideas/experiences and create anything that means something over time, even to yourself–there’s always a little influence here, a bit of someone’s style there, that provokes one into writing better, more effectively, more interestingly. Interacting, especially reading/absorbing a wide variety of styles, is crucial to the whole way what we have becomes what we bring. Or so I think. ;_)
First time here…so bear w. me. Wrote “Choices’ a while ago…that okay? Will be back in a few to read others. Gotta do something first. :))
awww you are a regular…just on a different day…smiles…good to see you ma’am
I appreciate the prompt as well as all the street art pictures you have been posting in your blog lately Brian. I chose not to pen about the choices of my life as it will take more than just a blog post, you know *smiles* I think you can use this prompt several more times, and our blog posts will be always fresh and new ~
Of course blogging is interactive, I learn that from you.
Happy day to everyone ~
Grace
keep passing it on grace…smiles….ha i think i could fill a blog or at least a few books on choices i have made..smiles…
ok poets…before i fall asleep with my nose on the laptop.. i go to bed and be back in the morning…
rest well C….and have fun…smiles.
Great choice in a prompt, Brian!
I’m running a taxi service these days but will try my best to leave comments when possible.
haha…do you have a meter? make money? smiles…i know what you are saying…
No money to be made… but priceless memories!
and that is pay enough…smiles.
I like it when you post pictures of your boys. This one is great. Hope the audit results are positive. I know how stressful the process can be.
I’m entering my post today. I made a choice.
woot….nice choice myrna…and thanks…will know on the audit by tuesday will let you know…if i need a job…haha….gallows humor…
Mine is not newly written but is definitely about a time of difficulties and choices I was faced with … so much easier when our only choices were cereal or egg and toast soldiers for breakfast 🙂 Great picture with your son btw
nice…there are def some choices that are easier to make than others….
I’m in–a rather obvious one, but I think it hits the topic. Please bear with me on the audio. I’m just learning how to read my poems out loud–that is, so other people can understand, rather than my usual mumbling and muttering them to myself. I’ll be around to make the reading rounds this evening.
it has been great to hear your voice hedge….smiles on the muttering…
Choices, choices, hell, not an easy task, sir; write, re-write, convert to mp3, cross my fingers and deploy it. XBOX XMAS http://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2012/06/xbox-xmas.html
nice…on my way over….
Choice can be hard to make. I like this propmt because it gave a choice to write or not.
great to see you sir…
Going to get to your poem any moment now, Brian, tried once and couldn’t get to it – thanks for the interesting prompt
Freedom of speech should be an inalienable right for all citizens of the globe…but it’s not. My offering is a re-posting of a political poem calling for the support of the right of choice to simply speak out with an opinion without fear of reprisal, imprisonment or death.
have to head out a little early tonight poets…but i will be back first thing in the AM to play catch up on the over nights….sleep well all…or have a great day! smiles.
So many choices, so little time … but this poem weighs heavily on my shoulders from time to time and I look for opportunities to give it light so thank you for providing me one Brian … forgive the length
http://thepoet-tree-house.blogspot.ca/2012/06/choices-or-illusion-of-same.html
nice….on my way over to check it out….
good morning poets!
good morning…and on my way to read the overnights..
Great subject – as always. Thanks for.
Cool prompt, Brian. I got a lil’ bit literal. 😉
Brian, thanks for hosting. Great write-up and topic. Thanks
dude…killer write today….
I wrote a yummy haiku for this. So sorry for the audit, Brian. 😦
really not fair at all shawna…esp when i havent had dinner….smiles…
No kidding! The least they could do is bring you steak.
Thanks for the great prompt! I’m not sure what I’ve come up with so far is really more than the start of a poem, but you certainly have me thinking!
Great prompt, Brian! But choices has me at a dead end. I keep starting something and then choosing to trash it! 🙂 I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone else’s poems last night though!
been at work all day…just getting in…and got some catching up to do! smiles…be around shortly….
Sorry I’m so late! Took a weekend off!
Lots of things jumped up and shouted “Choose me, choose me!”, but this one shouted loudest. A very odd way to describe my choice, which will make sense after you read the poem.
hey glad you made it charles….and a real emotion packed piece today too…
Well said, well written. Looking forward to checking out my fellow poets entries.
cool that…i will be over in a minute myself…
This one made me contemplative, which is, I guess, how choice should be approached… Thanks, Brian.
After all these years I have learned that the cure for my anxiety attacks is having some wonderful shrink remind me–in multiple ways– that I have choices. That is what i am trying to get to in this poem. I missed the deadline by 3 hours, which would have raised my stress level if I couldn’t put it here. Thanks for the choice!
sorry we missed out on your magic susan…will pop over and see what you are up to anyway…smiles.
Ouch! didn’t see the Linky thingy had expired.
first time i am posting here, what a terrific start. 🙂
anyway, i will go around reading the posts.
thanks for the prompt.
my son & street art, Richmond, VA
Each day we are faced with choices…what time to stop hitting the snooze button, regular or decaf, cream & sugar or black, silk or cotton, or none, right turns, left turns, argue or accept, work or play sick…whatever your choices, one thing that holds true is—
we are a product of the choices we make.
some choices don’t require much thought, whether they are simple and rote to memory already or we just don’t care. Some are impossible and seem to have no good answers. Sometimes choice is made for us, and sometimes it is taken from us. especially if we are frozen in the moment and can’t choose.
we can even fool ourselves at times by thinking that by not choosing we are not making a choice, but then again we really are.
our choices say much about who we are.
yesterday i was offline the entire day as the result of an audit. i spent the day reviewing files because the convening authorities will be there monday to do the same. another agency across town closed their doors recently because of the size of the fine they received for choosing to ignore the details of their reporting.
our choices have consequences.
my son spent the extra money he had earned doing chores only the next day to see the thing he really wanted. when he asked me for more money, i did not give it to him, but reminded him of the choice he made the day prior. and i did not say ‘i told you so.’ smiles.
we have to live with our choices.
my name is Brian Miller and today i will be your host for Poetics and our prompt it is multiple choice. There are so many possibilities you can write about, but make a choice, write about a choice, or its consequences, or and unmade choice, or…well i will let you figure it out. hopefully i got you thinking. now choose…
here is how it works:
Write a poem that deals with choice and post it to your webpage
Click on the Mr Linky button below and enter the direct URL to the poem and your name
Visit others that have posted. This is crucial to me. I really can’t stand poets that enter these things and like the attention but never visit anyone. It is all about community for me
Get the word out, tweet…i will def retweet, facebook, whatever your social media choice is
Have fun
See you out on the trail… ~Brian