It's Not By Choice Poem by Kenneth Maswabi

It is not a choice to choose anymore
Many forces are driving change
It's not by choice that some are wearing Prada
Or that some are married
It's the constant pressure of modernity
That drives the choices we make
It's not by choice that some are unemployed
Roaming the streets
It's easy to think that "we are our choices"
Choice is no longer a leading force
In the ability to be what you are
You may be in school today
But tomorrow you might be in the ditch of poverty
We have lost our ability to pave our paths
And modernity is dictating what we choose
Someone chose an iPhone the other day
But he knows nothing about it
"It is an accessory to have, " he said
His choice is not a necessity
It's a luxury he cannot afford
We are now a people with no choices
And it is not by choice that we do not have good choices
It's an era of wrong choices
It's not a matter of "the wrong choices bringing us to the right places" anymore