Order

Image by Dieter Martin from Pixabay

You see what’s happening,
But aren’t easily amused.
If you signed up for this,
There was no dotted line,
Or what resembles order.
It’s as though you can’t tell
The bottom from the top;
Sideways is all you know--
Perhaps, at least, nowadays.
You’d pay a small fortune
To peer into the future.
Yet in your present state,
You’re past any expiration date--
Part of the walking wounded,
Who don’t hesitate to run,
The first chance they get.
So where’s a detailed map,
When you most need it?
How to get from here to there,
Without a prescribed route,
Guiding your every move--
Point by point by point.
Why even bother traveling?
Tomorrow, a moving van
Arrives at your apartment,
Collecting random thoughts.

Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack, Under Damaris’ Dress, The Alphabet of Love, The Gentle Man, The Last Mojito, The Geographer’s Wife, Whistling to Trick the Wind, and This Body Is Never at Rest: New and Selected Poems 1993 – 2023.  His work has been anthologized in textbooks published by City Lights Books, Harcourt Brace, Longman, and Prentice Hall.  He lives in Pasadena, California.
https://www.facebook.com/bart.edelman.1

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