Exhaustive Taxonomy

There are so many, too many ways
To parse experience—for instance

Into things that will resolve themselves,
Things that might, things that won’t, things you must

Resolve yourself, things you can’t resolve,
Things that lie beyond resolution—

All one taxonomy actual
As any, but rarely considered

As such—the wound you feel and then feel
Heal itself, the shadow in the house,

The flash flood, the empty bank account,
The gradual aging of your flesh,

The cosmic background radiation
That will never show the face of God.

Make your own list. Or taxonomize
Your experiences differently.

There are off-the-shelf taxonomies
To choose from. Every practice and creed

Can offer you some. There’s so many,
You could place taxonomies themselves

Into their own parsed taxonomy,
But then life just gets too exhausting.