Process Tree

• Let’s write a poem.
  • The night was…
    • crepuscular?
      • Nonsense in a word vat… but we can’t go back now.
        • I want to go back.
          • The night was…
            • crepuscular!
              • Yes. The night was crepuscular.
            • dark.
              • Hey! I didn’t say that!
        • Crepuscular it is, then.
          • The night was crepuscular.
    • dark.
      • Hey! I didn’t say that!
• Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.
  • Why?
    • Crepuscular means twilight. Nighttime is after that.
  • Yeah, the night can’t be crepuscular.
    • Why not?
      • Crepuscular means twilight. Nighttime is after that.
    • Crepuscularity is a twilight quality.
• We’re getting distracted.
  • Let’s get back to writing the poem.
    • Actually, we should probably just start over.
  • No, metaphors should make sense!
    • And this one doesn’t.
      • Let’s start over.
    • Who said this was a metaphor?
      • …
        • Isn’t it one?
          • It’s my life.
        • It’s my life.
      • Sometimes reality does not make a very realistic basis for a story.
• Carefully, now, as we proceed.
  • Process is everything.
  • Give into the process.
• Made, as we are,
  • of the choices that we made,
    • (and those we did not)
  • of the paths we did not take,
  • of powdery snow,
• settled lightly atop an edifice of accidents,
  • every opportunity,
  • every mistake,
• every success and every failure,
  • rests on the lamentable laurels of
    • its fallen siblings sacrificed
    • its comrades killed
  • owes the debt of its existence to
    • its fallen siblings sacrificed
    • its comrades killed
• in the dust-cloud of history.
• How wounded we must feel!
  • propelled, as we are,
    • in each subsequent moment,
      • by a thousand deaths of
        • a thousand possibilities.
      • by a million deaths of
        • a million possibilities.
      • by a billion deaths of
        • a billion possibilities.
• and in our wake follows
  • closed door after closed door.
  • the fading ghost of a passing ship.
• Figures that creation consists of
  • little more than
    • little destructions,
    • furious failures,
  • nothing more than
    • darlings destroyed
      • on the altar of art,
      • to make something whole
        • on the basis of the exclusion of the part,
    • foolish forays,
• each denial an indelible mark
  • in stone
    • carving history with
      • a jagged knife.
      • a dull implement.
      • the power of poetry.
      • sheer force of consciousness.
  • in clay
    • quickly fired.
  • on paper
• I hope you hold with you no regrets,
  • what is done is done,
    • what has not come to pass
      • is lost in time.
      • may come yet to pass,
        • but not
          • as it presented itself before.
          • as you would expect.
          • in this lifetime.
        • as you will it,
          • determiner of destiny,
            • chance-charmer,
              • the one who sees possibilities eternal.
  • but if you do…
    • …try again.