Tales Untold, Roads Untaken

If you could live your life again, how would you live it: what alternate choice would you have made, as opposed to the one you took.

Rule 1: Not more than 300 words
Rule 2: One entry per participant
Rule 3: Title your poem
Rule 4: Adhere to competition rule

Inviting all dup friends and family to participate in this competition. Thank you!!

IS IT REGRET?

I'd tell her that I love her.

See the doctor sooner.

Keep that secret undercover.

Keep my head a little cooler.

Chose a different color.

Slept an hour longer.

Tried a different flavor.

Stayed a little stronger.

Never called you that.

Practiced a lot harder.

I'd give you another chance.

Stopped before I started.

Is this called regret?

My choices to a tether.

I'm willing to make a bet.

My life would sure be better.

I'd choose death for them


You ask me what I'd change
If i tell you
you'll know i'm crazy
cuz the life i live now is story book worthy
and many wish they could walk in my high heels
but it wasn't always this way

so for my brother who sacrificed his childhood
and my mother her sanity
I'd choose to have never seen the light of day
so he and she wouldn't have suffered
just because I was born

Thank you so much Jaspersilence and Gg78 for your entry.

...just sharing...

If today was a thousand yesterdays ago
I would pick the flowers instead of the thorns
I would dance out the door instead of stay
I would say no instead of yes
If it was a thousand yesterdays ago

If Could Try

If I could try to be myself,
Who would I be?
Would I be here?
I'll never know,
because the choices,
I never made.

I'd like to say

that I'd have taken every penny
of birthday and Christmas money
and bought up IP address real estate
right before the world started blowing
into the dotcom bubble

or that I'd have spent my youth
learning to rough it in the backyard
tying knots til I could rig oil to water
learning more than stop-drop-and-roll
and push-up-under-the-ribcage

or that I'd have found poetry early enough
to displace science as my modus operandi
for experiencing the big bright world
through as many facets as ten million eyes
directing a hundred million fingers
could have chronicled

but I'd give anything to go back
and do it all again
exactly the same
just doubling down
on the experience

bloodytearsoflife and MikeTheEngineer, thank you so much for your entry.

I Need the Lamp by mikimoondancer

If life had a genie
and it gave me a wish-
let me go back and change all this
I would

The first roads undertaken
wouldn't even exist
I'd repaint all the signs
so they'd read
"don't do this"

I would reinvent then spin the wheel
Let it turn til I got a better deal

There are so many people
I'd go back and un-meet
So many things
I'd go back and un-see
So many places
I'd go back and not be

Decompose what made me
ME

I'd take a right
at Try This junction
and another on Depression Ave
I'd blaze new trails, perhaps stay sane
and I'd completely un-pave old
Memory lane

I would soothe myself in better ways
Love me more, master self praise
Always go when I shouldn't stay
Never loiter where I shouldn't stray

The roads would all be clearly marked
with large words of wisdom in font
BOLD BLACK

I'd go back to the bridges
and burn all the trolls

Go back round the bend
and unhinge all the doors

I wouldn't be who I am today
nor where
nor at all with whom

And I would re-write every line
to just
erase
this room





Great comp Grace, Thank you!

Thank you for participating Miki. And the compliments.

Kissing the cheeks of past


reshaping my past, I'd listen
not the shadows that scared.
Nor deafen doubts that guts talk
jumped instead of stayed, carrying
caressing brand new ways.

Spoke when spoken to, lived
pleasing me, stead cool breezes
blown upon others, kept my eyes
upon sharks of the sea, the bleeders
leeches fed fat from skin.
Give token to that job in Hoboken

Cleaned house in sooners than later's
shifting waits from stilled minds
to weight for mind
Ignoring quiet times
reaction of creation, hold hands
to my ears as screams from larks
swore songs for their park

Bite the hand that fed
insecurities and dread
poured the greased palm
to ones whom know how to bag and tag
those clues were simple, sometimes
trees aren't seen when dealing with
Life overseas, encrypted letters
bound in Arabic, Russian, and French
archaic writing would've helped

Hitchhike my way to San Jose'
forgoing the plane ride
air sick to this day
study to play like others
compositions, repetitions, readings exact past
then find my voice,
or would I
Just regurgitate continuum
as I do this past, that which I slowly
bury, with each spoke of path

To change what was, would be
another me, maybe better, maybe stronger
maybe an asshole without my Daughter
so what has happened, toilet
flushes
sinks to the earth
change what I can, continue
journey, shunning
the caverns of regret
embracing the folds
life just met  

Thank you for your entry, Soul.

What would be the point?

What would be the point
In starting over?
Re-doing and trying to fix your mistakes?
Yeah
There's a hell of a lot of shit I'd change
But I wouldn't be me anymore
If I were to fix
Those things
I wouldn't be this strong
Nor would I be this weak
I'd be an entirely different person
And I'm not okay with that

My motto is to live with no regrets
And that I will do.

Thank you Kitty Dawn for your participation.

Crossroads



Half-way through my journey
I ended up in unchartered territory;
came across this crossroads,
contemplating on which way to take.

Do I go ahead and take the paved roads
beyond the horizon of my dreams,
or do I take the tree-lined path on my left
covered with wild flowers and grasses,  
and with birds chirping - calling my name?

Shall I take the treacherous and winding road
to my right... with an inviting ocean view?
"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it,"
seems a logical phrase, but when you have
three bridges to cross, which one will you choose?

I had chosen the paved roads with neon lights
always glittering even in cold lonely nights;
my goal was set aside for I was lured
by the grandeur of a care-free city life,
and my vision of you began to fade,
as I drowned in a sea of fine wine.

The situation could have been different
had I chosen the road less travelled;
we could have been living a simple life,
yet happy taking care of our grandchildren
instead of a cat and her kittens.

I might have been rich and famous
had I chosen the road leading to the sea,
for sunken treasures resurfaced from beneath,
and buried treasures shed some light
to my grandfather's drunken tales.

I'm back at the same crossroads--
it doesn't matter now which way I take,
for with you by my side
our love will always be our guide.

We could only hope and pray,
that we could be together for a lifetime;
for we have loved each other
long before we knew
what love really is...