It’s a big question, maybe the biggest, and that’s why it’s something that I keep hearing myself ask. I don’t know if there’s a clear answer, but for me a poetic life is one that embraces. It embraces ups and downs, hardships and happiness, loss and finding. And it must find a way to hold these fleeting moments still, to make sense out of something that seems senseless, or just silly.
My own journey as a poet has led me to consider the dichotomy between choice and luck. I became enthralled with the idea of the roulette wheel and how it can determine fortunes. I did some research at njcasino.com and even learned a bit about the history of the wheel. It turns out is was first developed out of a failed experiment to create a perpetual motion machine.
That machine failed (which is probably good….otherwise roulette games would be endless!). But out of that failure came a form of entertainment that has life lessons in it. For me the roulette wheel - smiling on some, frowning on others - is the ultimate form of poetic justice. We are like Yeats poem, silent and unmoving at the center of a world revolving around us.