What Is Permanent Poem by RIC BASTASA

who you are when you
are born
can be permanent

a boy another girl
a chubby baby on the crib
the thin one
barely breathing in the cradle
the sleepy one
sucking milk from the
mother's breast

sometimes you know
there are no choices
with what the genes gave
to the spine
and the skull
these are permanent shapes

what we can choose is
either/or

love or hate or both
peace or war
leave or stay
compassion, understanding
hope

matters of the heart
and the soul
that only us can sift
like flour from the bugs.