Monday, May 2, 2022

CONTINGENCY

It's a fact: you cannot, 
at present, fathom
or conjecture

in which situations, or 
to what degree
you'll matter—

because luck
and significance 
cannot be planned, 

not even 
by the staggering genius 
of the past.

Just as there was 
no way of knowing 
which minnow 

would rise 
to become the bold 
fish of evolution, 

so too, in the membrane-
thin confusion  
of this moment,

there is just about 
as little sense in 
disowning your devotions 

as there would be 
in lowering 
down to your belly 

and wriggling back 
to the ocean.