How to Start a Story

In the beginning
Are words that work well to
Start things off.
Nothing can come before that
Unless you listen to Vonnegut and
Start as close to the end as possible.
This moves things forward,
Keeps us interested,
Dispenses with preamble and
Planet building.
If we're not interested in
Heaven and earth,
Don't care what my name is,
Want to dispense with that
David Copperfield kind of crap,
Then we turn deep into the story
Where our protagonist is in trouble and
Looking for epiphany.
Because,
In the beginning,
He chose poorly,
Setting in motion a contrived plot
Where no one rests or uses the bathroom,
Where people aren't as real on the page
As they are arguing over a purchase at the dollar store down the block
Or suffering from an unfair tumor,
Because by design and perhaps by definition
Life is not fair.
That's the real beginning we deserve
But not the one we get.

© Poem Fix http://www.poemfix.com 2012
Photo: Wien Sommeregger