Poetry

Today I say: To each Thur own.

If you don’t like that, I’ll Fri again tomorrow.

If you don’t like that, I’ll be Sat and blue overnight.

After resting up, I’ll give it Sun more try.

If you don’t like that, I’ll say: c’Mon, will ya?

Then I’ll think carefully about what Tue say.

And where and Wed.

Yes, I wrote this on a Thursday. I published it on Facebook, and my friend and former supervisor J. Ames Parsons supplied the title as a comment on my post. I meant this as silly fluff, but it occurred to me afterward that if the first line is read as “To each their own,” this could appear to be a statement akin to “Just let everybody do/think/say what they want.” Broadly speaking I agree with that. It’s an American ideal. Freedom of speech and expression, pursuit of happiness, individual determination, yeah! But there are also injustices to address and prevent, and there are hard facts to employ. As I write this, division and discord are high. Headlines scream arguments about COVID-19, race relations, political decisions, and much more. So I’m musing about what this poem (unintentionally) says. “To each their own …” I don’t have a good answer yet.