Choices

Photo by Tomorrow Never Knows on Flickr photosharing

Morning brings two choices
Run
Not run
Opening the front door, a wall of heat bumps my face
Steals my breath, like opening the oven door to check a cake
I inhale the scent of parched grass and baking leaves
I ponder that pain in my hip, the throb in my big toe
At my feet the dog pants, wags his whole body, spins in circles
He doesn’t need a choice
Might as well ask him if he wishes to breathe

The workday brings two choices
Write
Pretend I will get to it in a minute
Opening the word processor is a beating
Doubts slap my face
Fears knuckle my stomach
On a shelf is a fat, hand-typed manuscript, a book I wrote at age 12
Where is the little girl who launched into stories
as eagerly as she jumped from the sizzling planks of a boat dock
into the cool blue of a summer lake

I have two choices
Remain immobile, transfixed by perfectionism
Close my eyes and jump
~Nara

This post was written in response to the Three Word Wednesday prompt. See what others have written and join in the fun here.

12 Comments

Bluebell Books

August 2, 2011 at 10:44 pm Reply

wow, breath taking one.
keep it up.

naramalone

August 2, 2011 at 10:44 pm Reply

Thanks to all of you for stopping in and taking the time to comment . It's encouragement like this that keeps me taking the plunge every day.

rmpWritings

August 2, 2011 at 10:44 pm Reply

there always seem to be choices…too many choices… time seems to make us weigh them longer and harder than our younger selves…fearlessness having fled…motivation and will no longer so innate…

rediscovering that can be tricky…but worth it…sometimes it's essential to just close your eyes and jump