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Multiple Choice
by Kristina WoodhillWhat are the answers here?
this test of will
I grip your pencil
point it at the circled void
and wait for you to ask
this question of anger
with anger, for ...what?
your tone,
these hues of pain
that brush you dry,
a flat finish
stroked
on
walls
straight
and slick smooth
a trembled
holding, holding
I watch
coats of soft
satin slough
or
run
down
wet
cracks filled
but never
sealed
black paint puddles
deny my eyes
the colored years
of you when
beauty must
have stirred
within and
held your
gaze
a one
a two
a three
a multiple
of joys
I. must. choose
that answer
all of
the above
for were I to find
another choice
marked by your hand
and I do
oh, yes, I do try
to hide that
number
folded deep within
this practice
testing guide
that this agony
and anger
is not the
cause
of held reins
blind eyes
beauty scraped
from each
canvas
in your gallery's
display
I would shave
your pencil to
its nub
sift through
your leaden wooden
dust
to extract
that speck
that I will claim
as
beautiful
elegance
wonderment
joyful abandon
and I will
place that
bit
I must believe
is you
upon
one
encausticed
board
layer upon
loving layer
and hang this
work of art of you
upon a warmly
textured wall
so the task remains
the test of will or won't
the give or take
expunged by vise
gripped metallic locks
I grind the gears
a few more rounds
and finally release
the weary brakes on this
my vehicle of choice
why do I think
that you
are simply true or false?
02/21/2007 Posted on 02/21/2007
Copyright © 2025 Kristina Woodhill
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 02/21/07 at 05:39 PM Excellent metaphoric application of standard education system test to love. Wish I had written this...glad you did!!! |
| Posted by Christel Crews on 02/21/07 at 05:56 PM wow, what a whirlwind of thought! i love the parallels you've made, and from someone finishing up her degree, taking exams, etc.. you've done a great job taking the idea and working it throughout.. |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 02/21/07 at 09:20 PM The paperwork of love is like this. Always, always a test. Very original and I especially like: "cracks filled/but never/sealed/black paint puddles/deny my eyes/the colored years/of you when/beauty must/have stirred/within and/held your/gaze"...Many thanks.
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| Posted by Joan Serratelli on 02/21/07 at 11:18 PM I loved this piece describing the agony/ectasy of test taking. The descriptions are so vivid and add alot to this piece. Wonderful job! Very interesting piece. |
| Posted by Michelle Angelini on 02/22/07 at 04:38 AM I am simply mesmerized by the feelings of love and patience that sift through the layers of emotions here. I'm not sure if I took a breath throughout the whole reading of your beautiful poem. Exquisite! Oh, yes, my choice for potd.
~Chelle~ |
| Posted by Soulo Jacob Bourgeau on 02/23/07 at 12:42 AM What a cool extended metaphor! All of the above indeed. |
| Posted by Charles E Minshall on 02/23/07 at 02:44 AM Most enjoyable Kris...Kris |
| Posted by Kathleen Wilson on 02/24/07 at 11:35 PM The absolute complexity of not only the individual but also relationship is revealed in its singular, compound, and multilayered realities in this fascinating work. The ingredients are as intense and deep as the matter being explored. It is "your pencil" that is held, and "ground" and the "speck" extracted and framed, the "circled void" overhangs everything here, and the contrasts--"agony and anger" and "beautiful/elegance/wonderment/joyful abandon"... here the dichotomy and the years of cohabitation within the self--- all this comes through here and amazes with multiple choice. |
| Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 02/26/07 at 12:45 PM lovely, this poem is, from top to bottom and even in the middle, which presents to us a riddle of ourselves that we will never figure. |
| Posted by Elizabeth Jill on 02/28/07 at 05:03 PM My favorite "Choice" line is:
"[...]and finally release
the weary brakes on this
my vehicle of choice"
oh, to be inside that pencil of yours just now :) |
| Posted by Kyle Anne Kish on 03/01/07 at 03:46 AM Oh my, I was in a whole whirlwind of thought and emotional throughout this piece. A fantastic display of 'what, why and how can I chose?' This is going in my favs. |
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