Everything Happens for a Reason

[Veronica]

Everything Happens for a Reason 

an object in motion will stay in motion 
unless stopped 
by something of equal or more force 

or 

gravity dictates that was is launched 
must be grounded 

or 

we go to church on Sundays 
because that is when God rested 

or 

he cheated because she would not 
fuck anymore 

or 

the house foreclosed 
since the bills were not paid 

or 

the girl has scars 
because she believed she deserved them 

or 

erosion is a thing 
thanks to the moon 

or 

death is alive without water 

or 

a pen moves to be heard. 

[lawrencemullen]

This is super specific but in the fourth stanza "anymore" followed by "or" is too much of a rhyme to me, as none of the other stanzas end that way. I'm not sure about the last two stanzas, as they break from a pretty well established pattern of two lines per stanza, with a an action, followed by its reason. I'm unsure of how that pattern continues with "death is alive without water," because death being alive, doesn't seem to have a reason, or rather without water doesn't seem to fit the category of reason. "A pen moves to be heard" follows more with an action, and then a reason, but then line itself is also a little bit of a cliche.

[Kate Burnham]

Interesting on how you toe the line of using another cliche—what goes up must come down...

[Brielle Kroner]

I really love this. Each rewrite of the cliche builds to more simplicity but also more power. Love "death is alive without water" and "a pen moves to be heard."

[Kate Burnham]

Questions:

What if, instead of breaking up each reimagining of the cliche with "or," you use some sort of tick mark, em dash, asterisk, or something like that? Visually, what do you think all of these or's add to the poem--what do they communicate? 


In the first three lines, why did you go with "equal or more force" as opposed to "equal or greater?" Is it to have that internal "or" rhyme--which links into the "or" repetition, oddly enough. Intentional? There is just so much OR going on--"anymore," "foreclosed..." I want to know what it means! 


I do like that it seems as though you are trying to deconstruct/boil down the cliche into a root meaning, something more fundamental than the original phrase, working your way down to something that might even possibly be contained in a single word? That might be something interesting to try here.