Turning Corners

Turning Corners

like death
he feared freedom
because both 
offered
so few
if any
answers
in a short
indifferent life
with so little time
for learning
and little room
for mistakes

like any unknown
he feared freedom
like he feared death
as things
he couldn't comprehend
neither
in and of themselves
nor
for the vastness
the complexity
of their implications

he feared freedom
like he feared death
so he choose
to ignore them
with submission
to society
and culture
and politics
and religion
and philosophy
and art
and their objects
and personalities
of worship
for telling him
what love
what family
what morals
what the difference
between selfishness
and responsibility
is

he chose 
all those things
for the comfort
of them
permitting
what he could demonize
and fetishize
and telling him
exactly what 
freedom and death
are

in freedom
real freedom
he trembles
at its vast uncertainty
he trembles
at what lies
around any corner
knowing 
it could 
just as easily
be
threat
as 
comfort

his awareness
of threat
his need
for solace
an eternal imbalance
keeping him anxious
his consciousness
the capacitor
for his anxiety
the conductors
of emotion and reason
with fear and ignorance
the insulator
bursting
discharging
then recharging
his anxiety
this eternal recurrence
sisyphus' stone
prometheus' eagle
wearing him down
to succumb
finally
to answers
the rewarded comforts
of belief
of understanding
of how to interpret
whatever's around
every corner
so he can get on
with all the necessary things
without too much
crippling 
destabilizing
anxiety

he rejects 
the unavoidable uncertainties
in freedom
a futile 
idiotic errand
like warding off
ignoring
the uncertainties
the inevitability
in death
with whatever
folly
of his choosing

he rejects
the inherent
uncertainties
within
freedom and death
while rejecting
the absolute certainty
that freedom and death
along with their
uncertainties
are necessary conditions
of living

he rejects
the uncertainties
the anxieties
of freedom
for the alchemized 
emulsified certainties
of religion
politics
and culture
that degenerate
flocculate
under most conditions
of applied heat
and cold

this man rejects
freedom and death
while another
weary of doubt
convinces himself
of the thrill
of the blessing
of discovering
the mystery
of comfort or threat
around any corner

this man's acceptance
making every turn
on every street
every descent
down every flight
of stairs
worth
all those trips
through and around
the city's
streets
in daylight
or night
under sun
or lamps or stars
whether clear or dreary
warm or damp
breezy or stale
he accepts
and continues on
turning corners
with his own
uncertainties