Mathematicians count lucky numbers. The lonely turn to astrology and love spells. When pharmaceuticals fail, the barren bring offerings to fertility totems. Even the skeptic chants incantations in a moonlit field like a fool, anything to bring rain, for rationality is a cruel comfort.
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Jewish Young Professional 
This is incredibly hard-hitting and poignant.. sigh.. thank you for adding your voice to the prompt.
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Thank you for the prompt as inspiration!
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You’re most welcome 🙂
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Superstition never works out well in the long run but short term consolation wins so many people over
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It’s hard to resist when rational approaches fail…
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A lot of truth in this piece. Lovely quadrille.
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“Even the skeptic chants incantations.”
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I liked that line too
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Thank you!
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Brilliant, biting and poignant. Miracles needed by whatever incantations we can conjur.
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Exactly. When you need a miracle, you’ll do anything, even if it’s the thing you never thought you’d do
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The title says it all … and your last line. Skilfully expressed.
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These might be among my favorite titles and last lines too. I’m so glad this resonated!
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I like to believe I’m a rational person. Then I resort to daydreaming about life.
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We’re all rational till we’re not. I think it’s one of the fascinating quirks of humanity.
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…for rationality is a cruel comfort.
This is true in so many way! Well done!
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Yup, it definitely felt true to me. Thanks!
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You are welcome!
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I am rational but, sometimes I dance on the side of a mystic. Depends on the situation. Rationality is sometimes about perspective. A poem to ponder.
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The mysticism/spirituality and the rationality fulfill different human needs I think
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i like this, a beautiful bridge made out of magic rope… well said. this gives me an idea, i may have to do some wrting this afternoon
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To have inspired you to write is the highest praise! Flattered and honored. Can’t wait to read what you come up with!
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I love your Quadrille! Believe it or not, 44 is one of my lucky numbers, every now and then I turn to my horoscope, never a good idea!
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The horoscope is hard to resist sometimes. Thanks!
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There is so much truth in your words. Well done!
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Thanks!
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I think it’s a side-effect of human awareness and rationality that we demand an effect to follow a cause. Bad things don’t merely happen; we are driven to figure out *why* and how we can fix it, even if it means flouting “rationality.” Rationality, it seems, is pretty tenuous.
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“Rationality, it seems, is pretty tenuous.” – yes, I think this is true
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It gives comfort in the times of desperation. I can think of rain dancing too.
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If I hadn’t been limited to 44 words, I would have put rain dancing in this poem. I wanted to, but I couldn’t fit it in with the word limit.
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Harsh truths full of wisdom wonderfully done!
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Thank you! I loved that image as inspiration for this one
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Nice to see you are past your blogging break. Me too I think. So, how rational are you feeling these days JYP.
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Isn’t that the question! I’d say the usual mixture of attempting rationality while subject to human emotional bias. How about you? And how was your blogging break? Good to see you on WP!
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My blogging break was surprising. It just started and kept going of its own volition – I think as part of an unconscious general reappraisal I have discovered I am undergoing. Can you have the same concurrent unconscious yet rational process going on? I now wonder if there will be a conclusion or I just resume?
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So well crafted, and so true. We grasp at anything if we’re desperate enough.
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For sure. Thanks!
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You’re welcome!
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When we are desperate, we hope for miracles! Excellent write, JYP.
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We certainly do. Thanks!
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You are welcome.
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oh yes, I like this: the bite at the end —
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Thanks! I thought it was a pretty good description of rationality. Important of course, to be rational, but it doesn’t solve all of human need.
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Wonderful poem! Also, love that title – sounds like something written on a pill bottle or a logic “if… then” statement. Gives the sense that in times of desperation even logic or science would command “go elsewhere…makes no sense staying here”.
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Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. I like this title too. I definitely wanted to capture the times when logic, science, and rationality seem to fail us.
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[…] FOWC, W3, dVerse, and retroactively Poets and Storytellers United. I took inspiration from Timothy Price. Also inspired by one of my own poems. […]
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[…] small gods. But you’ll learn the universe never gave a damn about religion or rain dances, that rationality is a cruel comfort. Fewer days remain of this life, transient as the wind, so, you might as well savor the short-lived […]
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