Either Way Poem by Robert Ronnow

If a poem or essay can end with a conclusion or its
      opposite, either one,
Can it be of any use to anyone?

Do the discrepancies and disparities, dualities and
      densities, reflect only the dementia
Of the bearer of the pencil?

First entertain, then enlighten if you can. One stretches
      truth in order to pretend,
Another leavens with levity one's inevitable end.

Most days it's not possible to bring your life into an
      expressible state. Disparate thoughts,
Arduous chores, word choices. And, of course, the state
      of the state.

Driven by ideas rather than rhymes, for it is not metres,
      but a metre-making argument,
That makes a poem. Convenience store or university
      English department

The day's arguments, down to the meaning of the
      weather, leave you indisposed
To share your heart of zero and your inner rose.

It is the strong force, the energy of the loved ones
      combined with cooperation for good or war.
Dad's years in New Guinea fighting Japs, he said, were
      his best by far.

The best that can be said or done is Be where you are.
      Love the one you're with
Not necessarily an adult of the opposite sex, perhaps
      just a kid who hates math

And school, dresses goth, reads rarely but learns a lot
      from movies and YouTube,
Has the presence of mind to say I am who I am, deal
      with it. That's who I want to be

And have always been. Today clean the house, again.
      Woke up this morning to two thoughts:
How sweet to be alive! Life is tough.



 - with lines by Emerson & Stephen Stills