3 poems by Duane Anderson

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

After years of living on earth,
searching for that next great enterprise,
I gave up trying, deciding to wait my time

until I entered the next phase of existence,
whether it was Heaven or Hell, one of
the last two opportunities in my next life,

then begin the process all over again, and when
that time comes, I will be rooting for heaven,
dreaming of a second chance.

 




Answer just what your heart prompts you.

They asked me what my name was,
but I did not tell them.
They asked me for my driver’s license
and car registration,
but I refused to give them either.
They asked me to step out of the car,
but I stayed inside and locked the doors.

The police officer broke the window,
pulled me out of the car, arrested me,
and now I sit in a jail.
It was just one of those days
when my heart was on vacation,
still recovering from a broken heart,
now hoping it enjoyed our new home.






When it is not necessary to make a decision,
it is necessary not to make a decision.

When it is not time to be confused,
it is time not to be confused.
Our fortune teller had gone into 
the nether world of madness,
far beyond the point where I had gone before.

My fortune tonight, one of making no decision,
and I am happy with that.
I can go back to sleep,
lay back in my chair,
but wait, each of those requires
me in making a decision.

As long as I live,
I will always be forced in making one.
Will I, or won’t I?
It is only in death
that this fortune becomes true,
and another decision must be made,
life or death?

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Duane Anderson currently lives in La Vista, NE.  He has had poems published in Fine Lines, Cholla Needles, Tipton Poetry Journal, and several other publications. He is the author of ‘Yes, I Must Admit We Are Neighbors,’ ‘On the Corner of Walk and Don’t Walk,’ and ‘The Blood Drives: One Pint Down.’

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