"Questioning" is the first of some collaborative poems that follow a particular structure. In this case, the first verse has one line of one syllable. The second has two lines each of two syllables. My part was verse 9 - so nine lines of free verse each with nine syllables. The lead poet was Jonathan Wilson, with contributions from Bethany Laurel, Rickets (both their "poet names" and me - I don't need an alias. It was fun to work on such a project, so we did a second.

Here is the full poem:

QUESTIONING

I.
Why?

II.
Question
silence.

III.
Ask the dark,
expecting
no answers.

IV.
For soon enough
the light will come
and noise follows
quickly behind.

V.
In the waking world
there is no room for
meaningless queries
only reasoning
that serves a purpose

VI.
So save exploration
for moments of quiet
unbroken solitude
uninterrupted by
unhearing, unseeing
unquestioning users.

VII.
To search inside of yourself
is an astounding journey
of finding wisdom within.
Do we think we are nothing
or have we found our heaven,
or maybe reality.
Keep exploring, you'll find out.

VIII

Every moment can have meaning
and can promote a change for good,
propelling us in directions,
some of hope, and prosperity
for us all. Yet for now it’s just
a trickle hard to see or feel
or understand yet there will be
that moment for us all to see

IX

Sometimes those moments can tear at us,
drag us down to buried memories,
force us to relive thoughts we’d rather
tuck away where they won’t disturb our
hard-fought equilibrium. Always
answers find their way from unlikely
sources - a random gift from a friend,
remembrances of rose-filled glasses,
that present now is future imbued.