would be salad, certainly not “fries with that.”
Or maybe opt for “other,” if I’m to choose
my lunch or my gender or maybe get off
on the frontage road or the road least traveled
(but then there’s always construction there).
Maybe the placebo or the generic
or just let the cancer grow.
                                                Choose “large,”
I know I’ll expand into it or does one size
really fit all? If we opt to intervene or invoke
sanctions or just send advisors—
what harm is there in that?
                                                    Would I be optioned to the minors
or put on waivers or should I opt for free agency? 
Isn’t there an option play we could run
or a Hail Mary?                       
                            And what are God’s options
anyway—to limbo or an air-cooled purgatory,
should I choose venial over mortal? Several
commandments are optional now I hear.
In any case, do no harm–not least but last,
last call,
last gasp,
last rites,
last resort,
last Jedi,
last Crusade,
last temptation,
last frontier,
last tycoon,
last stand,
last train,
last hurrah,
last dance, 
last kiss,
last call—
anything but least.

[from a prompt by Albuquerque poet Don McIver]