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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Good for Goose and Gander

What’s good for the goose
is good for the gander.

So the old saying goes.
Then comes the day
when the know-nothing gander
wants the better,
wants something more,
wants something mercifully different.

This lust for life
and for more of everything in it,
oozes into every empty crack
in that edifice called eternity,
then brings down the monuments
commemorating our own immortality.

The gander pushes and we resist.
The gander pushes and we resist.

Acquiescence comes first as a trickle
and quickly becomes a flood.
We’ll give in soon enough.
It’s what we wanted all along.