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Tag: complexity

We Like To Think

We like to think the truth is complicated,
that life is how it is because it’s hard
to figure it all out while it is happening
and comes at you, rapid fire, non-stop.

We like to think our big brains are so useful,
that the solutions we come up with are so wise.
After all, we spend so much time thinking.
There must be something worthwhile in it.

We like to think we don’t like drama,
that life is better when we keep it real.
But that’s too simple, really, to be right.
If it were just that, wouldn’t everyone do it?

We like to think, because our minds invent
an endless stream of objections and excuses
designed to convince us we don’t know anything.
If we could figure it out, we would. Right?

We like to think the world is complicated.
But that’s because it’s follow-through that’s hard.
If life were simply our imagination,
we’d never need to fix another thing.

We like to think the truth should be more clever
than simple minds like ours can figure out.
But we don’t need more gurus, saints, or teachers.
It’s not that hard to be a better person.

15 AUG 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

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TS BS

My idol was once Eliot:
I sought out stranger words
to seem more erudite and suave,
and introduced philosophies
through quotes in native tongues;
with long, ecstatic footnotes
in expository text
I piled up paraphrases,
odd translations and asides.

The simpler the subject,
the more complex grew the form,
until it took a thousand lines
of interlocking code
to show not tell in tortured verse
what could be said
in just three words.

08 FEB 2017

© 2014 – 2017, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

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