What If?

-What If?-
by Keaton Foster
(Six Twelve Line Poems With Same Name & Concept)


(Poem 1)

There’s a stone
Marking home
In a field of plenty
Inconspicuous
There is no name
Just dates and space
Something is buried there
But the world all around
Has been made unaware
Some darker days I visit
Standing, pondering
What if?

(Poem 2)

What if?
What did we miss?
Why didn’t we see it?
Were we looking?
Were our eyes closed?
If so, how come?
If not, then why not?
Was it important?
If so, in which way?
If not, why even show it?
Is there a point we are missing?
Or is missing it the point?

(Poem 3)

Are you a liar?
And if you are
Are you lying to all else?
Or just lying to yourself?
Why can’t you speak the truth?
Is the truth scarier than the lie?
If so, many should be able to relate
If not, then what are you doing it for?
Are you just not interested in the truth?
If not, let’s just assume that
And fill in the blanks with
What if?

(Poem 4)

What if?
What if not?
How come?
Why exactly?
Who is really asking?
Will any answer matter?
Can it be random?
Obfuscated diatribe
Clearly meant to mystify
On loan to deny
What any answer given
Could hope to imply.

(Poem 5)

The gun is alone
No one is at home
In a chest of drawers
Patiently it waits
In a constant state of
What if?
It’s an inanimate object
It has no soul, no feelings
Nothing but a specified role
It will wait as long as it takes
Someday its wait will be over.

(Poem 6)

In one hand is sand
Soaked with water
It becomes mud
In the other hand is mud
Thoroughly dried by the sun
Again it has become sand
After various viscosities
And metamorphic atrocities
He takes both hands
One with wet mud
The other with dry sand
And again he ponders, what if?


What If?
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2015.