Nestled inside
the fifth largest city in the USA,
between little bookshops and mom-and-pops,
where people came to recover from
TB and asthma all those years ago,
they knew something then.
Some say
the signs are everywhere.
Well, there was at least this one. Planted like a
flag under a slope of sunny sky.
I circled back. Another look
with a tear in my eye. Your healing blurry
but nearer.
Why worry? It said. Dead end.
Somehow it seems contradictory,
as if we should, anyway.
As if worrying is doing something.
But, like the sign says, it is. Taking the
worry road
just brings us one step closer to dead.
© 2025 Jennifer Wagner
What’s Going On? Contradictions
Photo: street sign in the Sunnyslope area of Phoenix, AZ © 2025 Jennifer Wagner
What a wonderful meditation - Jae
ReplyDeleteThis is poignant and hits me in the heart, Jennifer. Amazing to encounter those signs.........I see hope in "your healing blurry but nearer." I like the sound of those small shops, the mom and pop small businesses where people work so hard to get by. Especially in big cities.
ReplyDeleteLovely Babe. That's a sign we should pay more attention too.
ReplyDelete"As if worrying is doing something." Sigh. It sure feels like it sometimes. But the end of your poem is poignant for me. I like how you set up the setting and how it used to be "they knew something then." A powerful poem!
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting poem and merging of signs that could be taken more than one way. Seeing the two together to me says worrying is a waste of time and leads to a dead end that gets us nowhere. Easier said than done though!
ReplyDeleteSo true that taking the worry road makes us one step closer to death. Worrying, for the most part, accomplishes nothing. Your poem presents that in a fascinating way!
ReplyDeleteA interesting, poignant poem 'As if worrying is doing something, Food for thought. I love atmosphere of the first stanza
ReplyDeleteThe word 'recover' is a relief in the first stanza in spite of the line "they knew something then" and "worry road" is a dangerous pathway.
ReplyDelete