Habits

/ Brenda Bishop Blakey

magritte, rene, not to be reproduced 1937

Habits
Our habits will end our existence or
else power our fortunes—
a message drilled from world’s end.

We have the right to anger,
stomping ourselves off a cliff,
a mad dog, pit-bull split against self.

While others stay in place,
use the language of love and
wish for universal prosperity—

Some of us rip through our time,
a log burning down in a hearth,
sizzle, then puff out through the chimney.

I choose the long hello, by the numbers,
the slow boring drink sipped from
a porcelain cup with matching saucer.

He tries a death rattle, its whistle muffled
by six, single breaths whispered back to
someone he thought once loved him.

© 2014 Brenda Bishop Blakey

Words combined from two consecutive weeks from The Sunday Whirl:
Wordle #164: single, right, power, sizzle, muffled, back, language, numbers, existence, stomping, hello, place
Wordle #165: wish, porcelain, split, cliff, whistle, rip, chimney, habits, drilled, six, fortunes, drink, pit

Image: Not To Be Reproduced, 1937, Rene Magritte
From Magpie Tales, Mag 224

20 thoughts on “Habits”

  2. This reminds me of Jack London’s ‘Credo’:
    “I would rather be ashes than dust!
    I would rather that my spark should burn out
    in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
    I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
    of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
    The function of man is to live, not to exist.
    I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
    I shall use my time.”
    Very moving, Brenda.

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  8. Reading a piece like this I wonder whether others think about the value or futility of life. Whether they would say “I want more” or alternatively “That was good while it lasted”. But in truth it it is not praise we look for, merely love.

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