Multiple Choice – Science/Religion/You Poem
Multiple Choice
1. The cup you are drinking from is already broken because of :
(a) one of those noble Buddhist truths about life and suffering;
(b) the Book of Revelation;
(c) the laws of probability;
(d) it is one of my cups.
2. What goes around comes around because of:
(a) the law of Karma:
(b) some intersect between the Old and New Testaments (as in, ask for an eye and a tooth shall be given you);
(c) the rubber-sheeted nature of the Universe;
(d) the way that pounds glom on even from what I breathe.
3. The evening air feels so sweet upon my cheek because of:
(a) some combination of particle, temperature, synapse;
(b) God’s grandeur
(c) (any form of God):
(d) how it reminds me of you.
4. At the end of the day (that is, right now,) I do not know very much about:
(a) the properties of particles;
(b) what’s behind God’s grandeur;
(c) the laws of Karma, or
(d) momentum.
5. But I do know how your hand cups my cheek and how that sweet cup is:
(a) smooth,
(b) cool,
(c) warm,
(d) unbroken.
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The above draft poem, my 12th for the 12th day of National Poetry Month, was inspired by Charles Miller’s wonderful prompt at dVerse Poetry Pub concerning the interaction between science and religion and poetry. Charles has written a wonderfully informative article on this theme, as well as a prompt.
If your mood runs towards a more escapist (silly) bend, I urge you to also check out NOSE DIVE, my comic novel about high school musicals, phone sex, eco terrorism (maybe), and self-image (definitely.) Available on Kindle for just 99 cents, and in paper for a bit more.
Explore posts in the same categories: poetry, UncategorizedTags: buddhist truth bible poem, evening air poem, manicddaily, Multiple Choice love poem, Science/Religion/You poem
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ManicDDaily 
April 13, 2012 at 3:30 am
Immediately moving and deepening with each rereading. I’m liking this very much indeed, and I’m thinking that any good Buddhist would be able to appreciate it even more than I can. Congrats, I think you have yourself a minor masterpiece. (minor in size, that is, not quality!)
April 13, 2012 at 6:27 am
Ha. Thanks, David. You know I read your comment this morning, and I was so tired I thought you wrote “centerpiece,” so I thought you were talking about my photo. I am really laughing about that now. K.
April 13, 2012 at 5:49 am
Oh wow, this has suddenly become my favorite of your poems. First of all, I love unusual formats that both seduce and challenge the reader – multiple choice, I’ll use that someday! – and then, where others have made the form itself a gimmick, you’ve risen above it, used the form itself to drive the emotion, increasing the momentum with each question. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
April 13, 2012 at 6:26 am
Thanks so much, Sam.
April 13, 2012 at 6:58 am
ha..this is a really cool idea and take on the prompt…reminded me of a son who once wrote a letter to a friend when he was still very small…and gave him some checkboxes to answer his questions…smiles
April 13, 2012 at 7:01 am
Well, you have certainly (begun to) come through in your response to the prompt. I like the idea that much of life is a choice, and what you choose depends on how life will be present to you. My question is, how did you decide on the possible answers? Might one not think that the lists of answers could be added to ad infinitum? Are the choices so circumscribed? Just thinking aloud, given this very creative and imaginative response to the prompt. Thank you!
April 13, 2012 at 7:13 am
Thanks, I did have another verse which I kind of liked, but I didn’t want it to get so long. K.
April 13, 2012 at 7:36 am
Also, I didn’t fully mean them to be choices! But the format seemed to work that way. Maybe title is not the best, misleading. k.
April 13, 2012 at 7:10 am
ha this is a fun delivery k…and can we really answer these perspectives and is there any really right answers…and if there are will we know this side of whatever is coming?
April 13, 2012 at 10:31 am
As per usual, you manage some humor while dealing seriously with the topic, which I think is always a plus, both for people to willingly swallow the poem as a whole(as in a spoonful of sugar, medicine, etc) and because I myself can never seem to do it and so I have humor envy. ;_) The last verse pretty much sums up my entire cosmic philosophy of life. Just excellent–which goes to show that sometimes the brain responds under pressure and fatigue remarkably well, and also why this challenge of writing one a day is so much (serious) fun. Have a great and hopefully relaxing weekend, K.
April 13, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I really liked where you were headed with this; I was picking all Cs for a while, but then you broke the expected form and started mixing them up. I was looking forward to the personality analysis at the end. 😉
Loved how you ended with the word “unbroken.”
April 13, 2012 at 2:21 pm
I love clever formats like these — and I love the narrative that emerges in this poem. Huzzah!
April 13, 2012 at 6:42 pm
How creative is this….very down to earth with all the choices…and I really like the last one..its speaks to me ~
April 13, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Nice, what a cool idea, a poem in the format of a questionaire. I guess it’s about how you choose to see things. 🙂 Clever!
April 15, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Such a great premise which you execute with flair!
April 15, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Hi Anna–congrats on site for the day! k.
April 15, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Thanks so much!