goofing around on the internet i found passing reference to one of the most overused pieces of hackneyed poetry bandied about by people trying to seem "deep". apologies to those of you who have heard this before. but dammit, trite garbage puts a sour taste in my mouth, and i would be doing us both a disservice if i skipped out on a chance to pass that taste on to you. so here's the deal.

you know the Robert Frost poem that goes "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..." blah blah blah "...the road less traveled". i hate hearing this poem. i hate hearing references to it. the whole idea of "taking the road less traveled" makes me ill. not so much because i disagree with the message of the poem but because everyone who ever uses this poem to make their point misses the damn point.

...
then took the other as just as fair
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same

and both that morning equally lay
in leaves no step had trodden black
...

after setting up the two paths as supposedly different, the poet continues on to say that the both are REALLY THE SAME. the poet makes an arbitrary decision between two options that appear ESSENTIALLY IDENTICAL. i am going to say this slowly, so nobody misses it: THERE IS NO ROAD LESS TRAVELED. the choice in the poem all comes down to selecting between two functionally indistinguishable options, not trying to do something different from everyone else. if i hear one more person employing this decent, but tired and overused poem to garnish a "go your own way, do your own thing, be your own man" message i think i'm going to puke. or maybe i'll just take a nap.