A Choice of Chairs

I will take one chair.
And you will take another.
Perhaps close.
Perhaps not.

There are many chairs to choose from
and we are taught to be safe first,
so distance might be in order.

A few chairs away,
not so far as to be rude,
but far enough
to discourage conversation
or the possibility of a pass.

The textbook way.
And the textbook would approve.

There is danger in closeness.
The danger of being heard,
or hearing. The danger
of finding something you had not realized
was lost. The danger of caring.
Mattering. Perhaps even,
love.

So be careful where you sit,
how you hold yourself,
even where, and how long you look.
A life might be changed,
just like that,
in where you choose
to sit.

About this poem

A poem about all choices, not just chairs. We make them all day long, and any one, any single one, can turn out to be more important than we realize.

The Picture was taken at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City

Tom