I’m just
Not yet ready
To go and solve
This puzzle
For the sake
Of opening pathways
In a game
With myriad doors

Unlatching
Perpetual locks
By pinching
At thinnest needles
Discovering
What lies secret
Behind keyholes
Clinched from fear

Jimmying
Tiny bolts
Which build up
Harsh resistance
As they tell me
Bonds stay permanent
Though I try
And remove their hold

Imposing
Limited access
On truths
I dare to question
Like arrogance
Barring knowledge
From players
Willing to lose

Establishing
Basic rules
Which change
As values lessen
Among winners left
Unnoticed
When their score
Begin its drop

Plummeting
While they wait
For a board
That’s now predicted
As an unfair
Right of passage
Determining
Sudden death

Where decisions
Branch like cracks
Between floorboards
Always shifting
Opening rifts
To nowhere
And swallowing people
Whole

Much how
Life Insists
Parameters
Keep us running
And trapped
Inside this corridor
For points which add
From sin

And chance
To choose our fate
By rooting hard
For goodness
Despite those laws
Indifferent
Or standards
Most provoke

Leaving
Portals blocked
And surrendering
Safest exits
Hoping faith
Can triumph
And conquer
Contests rigged.

– J. Pigno