question asked by Charlie Brice
Consider the myth (or is it history?) of the potato chip:
George Crum’s unpleasant, unsatisfiable customer;
an act of outrage or revenge that leads to a happy accident.
The future is built on missteps that seem like miracles.
We walk around with bruises, each a smiling signpost
noting where the past went wrong. We ignore
warnings, slapping shins against tables, stubbing toes
on chairs. Sometimes, in our clumsiness,
enlightenment emerges to salve the damage.
Sure, I can tell you what will happen
if you do X, but only if Y & Z are sleeping,
while A, B, C, & D won’t come outside to play.
Factors disfigure possibilities. Best to keep doing
what you’re doing, my friend—the future
a riddle solving itself, an obstacle
you stumble across before you can look back
from a distance & say, I was there, pointing
like the last man out of a house on fire.
–
Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2021). His poems have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Rattle, Chautauqua, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, WV, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble.