The Collected Writings of Brian J. Mueller

A single poem, met at the right moment, can change a life.

Search and read all 1,834 pieces by Brian J. Mueller — 1,675 poems, 38 prose pieces, and 121 haiku from 12 published volumes. Free to read and share.

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Finish a Life

It takes a lot more to finish life
than I imagined when I was fourteen.
I didn’t anticipate all the energy required
to weather chaos and change,
or the little bit of crazy
I would have to become
to go to work each day.

There are fewer and fewer of us -
people born in the twentieth century.
And every day more arrive
into this growing, yet shrinking world.
It seems so strange any of us must struggle
just to keep living.