Akrasia of Two Choices

today's metaphor, children,
today's lifebelt, anchor,
safety net, cosy nook, blindfold:

the danse macabre
stasis: there is no point in living,
therefore none in dying

praxis: there is a point in living,
therefore also in dying
the first is unendurable,

the second just as bad
is there a point? what is a point?
a point is a purpose,

a meaning, a sharp end
of something, the most
important purpose or

meaning of something,
a location, a geometrical
element with position but

no extension, an erection,
a detail, an isolated fact,
an instant of time, the object

of an activity, a distinguishing
or individuating characteristic,
a headland "you think too much

"all those books... what do they tell you?
"Nothing... Houp la!"
why is impossibility the only state

we can tolerate? Why is stasis,
the point where just before
breaking and disaster, where

the exigencies of the plot
have wrought the tension
into an intolerable freeze

why hold still on stasis?
because it precedes catastrophe
we are afraid of the tragic

working-out of the play
it is cathartic for the onlookers
to point the moral, not the agonists

the points and figures of a dance
when intelligence forbids dance
as cliche, when couples break apart

and reform, instead they try them all,
the points and figures, each new
pose and posture until the stamina

of one or the other is reached
the blood is streaming out
from ginger's shoes, and fred

keeps tapping manically away
while marlon drags maria
drunkenly across the dancefloor

bengt leads max and gunnar and co
in silhouette across the skyline
so I am dancing for my life

too bad it's just a comic act
and the sight of me dancing
is an intolerable nuisance

but there are no 'perfect moments'
we've all outlived ourselves, so we
dance this akratic, erratic dance