Superposition: The Multipassionate Manifesto

A poem inspired by my journey to discovering and embracing my multipassionate personality.

I. Atom

Two roads diverged in a wood,
And I - I wanted to take them both.
Oh, how I wished that I could
Go both ways - towards both North and South.

Why can't I be like an atom,
Able to travel both ways?
I am a collapsed wave function
Of stiffened, stunned x-rays.

If only time did not exist
With its confining strings
Tangled around my bloodied wrist
Like a malevolent jinx!

I wish to be like a particle
Living as a wave,
In a superposition of ideas and states,
Paths yet unknown to brave.

II. Pressure

But - I can only be
In one place at a time.
I must work full time
While I am in my prime.

And work I must
Till I return to dust,
That is true,
That's what is due.

But what exactly
from it all
do
I
do?

Well meaning, they say,
"Make a choice!"
But how could I choose to murder-
"Specialise!"
A part of myself, to barter-
"Narrow down!"
My soul for a career ladder-
"Commit!"
And let all my dreams shatter?

III. Diamond

Life is not fair.
Why can't I be all that I am?
You know what?
I really don't care
About this specialist scam.

I am done.

So what if I love both science and art?
So what if I am a multipassionate heart?
So what if I write about this and about that?
So what if I want to wear more than one hat?

I want to speak a thousand tongues,
I want to do a thousand things.
To choose one is to have none -
All my passion would be gone.

For I am like a diamond,
There are multiple sides of me,
And my sparkle can only be found
In multidimensionality.

IV. Fusion

Let music be the med student's medicine
And writing the violinist's bow,
Let the roots of words bring flowers forth
Through a mycelium of exponential growth.

---

Thank you for reading! <3
Credits: illustrations by Hal Gatewood, Greg Rosenke, Edgar Soto, and Daniele Levis Pelusi from Unsplash.
This poem has previously published on Vocal.