by Stewart Alter
He wanted to start his life over,
this time using GPS.
No more dead end
jobs, or wrong way turns
into one-way relationships,
or long roundabout highways
to get to the same crowded
rest area experiences as everyone else.
There would be personalized routes,
jig-sawed but goal-directed,
filled with wonder and surprises,
whether on country roads
or in less traveled towns,
always accurate and on track,
and alerting him to life’s opportunities
just ahead at the next junction,
steering him always
to turn the right way.
He would just need to yield
his will and be guided by
faith in that satellite voice.
There would be just one directional
decision to make–
What did he want his life to be?–
None others delaying
or troubling him along the way.
But if, because of stubborn
old bad habits,
or willful defiance,
he veered off course
and found himself lost,
afraid or even anxious,
that voice from the heavens
would be quick to forgive,
and ready to restore him
to the proper path,
repeating,
“recalculating. . . recalculating.”