The Cost of Choice

A poem inspired by Depression Cookies
by Angela Beach Silverthorne, Co-Author

The Cost of Choice

A choice can captivate or cripple.

Its freedom can liberate or ensnare.

For the women in Depression Cookies, a choice is a light foot tap against a row of dominos, or a peg pushed in too far, or a crack widening in a foundation.

Once made, a choice cannot be withdrawn without cost or stabilized without regret and remorse. Choice shapes the course of one's history, setting up internal conflict., igniting dry brush into a forest fire, or bursting a meadow into lush green.

Choice waits in the palm of a hand, never suspecting the muscle tension as one finger after another closes in, obscuring the promise of security or calamity.

All it takes is

one word, one action, one deed

to change everything.