Do you take everything for granted?
And does your truth live within you?
Are questions that are never asked
ever answered?
Is it right to set your own standards?
Or should you demand to know how to go?
Is the road less traveled a good choice?
Does your voice ever come unraveled?
Do you allow no to be a solution?
Can roadblocks bring you to some conclusion?
(C) Copyright Walter J Wojtanik – 2017
dVerse Poets Pub – Poetics: The Answer is 42
Love the reference to Frost, and for sure the value of the roadblock… the questions are apt and well told.
Love Frost. Those question just scratch the surface, so I’ll keep exploring, Björn.
Your questions are excellent. challenging & the kind of inquiries that would generate answers that would whelp many more questions; smile.
Thanks Glenn! Sometimes we need the exam to pass life’s turbulence.
I think we do take many things for granted. I think it is good to stop and reflect and question. We don’t know what we don’t know.
I know, right? 😉
I’m copying these to add to a lecture to my teenagers. Good self-development questions. Know thyself!
The questions we ask… good lessons indeed!
“Are questions that are never asked
ever answered?”
I love that. Of course they are!
Yes, I believe you’re right, Shawna. Or they seem to reveal themselves over and over again. I’ll keep listening.
Oh, and BTW, I’m sure whatever questions you posed were quite extraordinary. If I had the chance to read them. 😉
I’m finding so many of the poems following the prompt to ask questions, are not making me answer, but are making me ask. This one is no different, so much to ponder! I love so many of these questions, “Are questions that are never asked ever answered?” Does someone think out answers to imaginary questions? “Is the road less traveled a good choice?” What path do I want to follow? “Do you allow no to be a solution?” This one I can answer, for myself at least.
I try not to answer a question with a question, but I see your point, Zurk. It just means we need to keep learning and discovering. Thanks for this.
I often wonder about the roads we choose in life, they are pivotal moments that have a lasting ripple effect. I don’t think one will ever truly know the answer.
When we learn all the answers, we’ll stop inquiring, and with that, will all knowledge cease? We will never know, Truedessa!
Good question about the road less traveled. I think some of the answer would be to what extent we really are “individuals”. To some extent we are, but we are more than our individual selves making choices. I don’t know the answers to this, but the question is good.
Thanks Frank. I suppose this exercise was meant to make each other question ourselves. They’re all good questions.
I love your take on Frost, Walter, and the line: ‘Can roadblocks bring you to some conclusion?’
Thanks Kim. Frost is a favorite of mine, so it fits!
This has really set me thinking. What an introspective poetry! Simply wonderful. I’m working on answers for myself 🙂
That’s all we can do, F&F. There aren’t wrong answers.
Some questions just generate more questions. Introspection is needed in one’s life. But we need to know when there is resolve, then stop. We can question ourselves crazy! Good poem.
There are no definitive answers, Mary. If we stopped questioning after the discovery of the radio, what need would there be for CDs and mp3s and digital downloads? There’s always something more.
“Are questions that are never asked ever answered?” What a riddle, as a tree falling in a forest… I would say no because for there to be an answer means there must have been a preceding question. Otherwise everything just IS.
I love the visual this evokes:
“Does your voice ever come unraveled?”
Good questions, all.
What a thoughtful poem! “Are questions never asked ever answered?” is so evocative, and a meaty topic for a great conversation.
I can relate to that last question currently. Are closed doors always going to be closed? Can I find peace if the “roadblocks” stay?
In the inner world of the questioning mind, sometimes faith (not complacency) is the half-answer to dealing with the unknown. I question, therefore I am. Your questions tugged me into a philosophical moment.
Good questions. Mostly unanswerable – but that doesn’t mean we should stop asking them.
LATE to the reading 😦 Cape Cod respite meant skipping OLN too….but here I am on a bright and cheerful Boston late morning…enjoying your questions. Great prompt, right? (ah — question there too!) I especially liked the last two lines. I was a high school debater — won many tournaments, was on tv in the Chicago area and went to college on a debate scholarship. Folks used to as my father how he ever won an argument with me. His answer was always the same, and immediate: “As soon as she opens her mouth, I say “no”.” 🙂 I’m smiling at that memory. But — in regards to your statement about “no” — oh yes, sometimes it should be the solution. Or something in that vein. We busy type A people have to learn how to “not volunteer” or raise our hand for ever single probe and favor. Not saying volunteering isn’t good….it’s just that sometimes we do that too much IE on the job it seems that the incompetent simply have tasks taken away from them, their workload lightened and pay kept the same…and those tasks are added to the competent person who has success…IE, you’re doing so well, we’d like you to do this too. Reward the good worker with more work; reward the not-so-good worker with fewer deadlines and fewer tasks. There’s a Dilbert comic about that! Someone once told me….okay — you need to practice saying no. So, take this situation: You are overloaded at work…you are the competent one. You’re called into the boss’ office and she says to you…”We have a problem. XXXX needs to get done in the next week. It’s not getting done. I don’t know what we’re going to do if it doesn’t get done.” The A personality would immediately jump in and say “Oh, I can do that for you.” BUT, what happens instead, if when the boss says, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.,” you say, “I don’t either.” And then just shut up. Aha….no as a solution 🙂 Sorry for waxiing here….but I did love your last two lines!