Consider the choices that you made *
All those options that seemed available to you
were what you could afford.
You bring with you, your life –
dismissing the medium in which you worked.
That tension, that element of surprise.
Something is receding
before your eyes. There's no easy
pattern to find – past and present
becoming just abutting squares.
See what's hidden, what's revealed.
Travel to uncomfortable spaces.
Bring with you the left overs.
Allude to them cleverly
in some astonishing memoir.
* Note: This poem was inspired by listening to "The Way I See It", a thirty-part podcast created by the BBC in partnership with MoMA, New York. Some words and short phrases were noted then a small selection cherry-picked, changed and added to to make this poem.
June Wentland lives in Corsham, Wiltshire but originates from Hull. She has had poetry published in magazines such as Stand and Poetry Ireland Review and in several anthologies. Currently, June also has a poem on the "Poetry Archive Now! Word View 2020" YouTube Channel.