IMAGE OF EARTH AND QUILL

Guest Poet David Meiklejohn



Between Two Points

From 7 to 8
I formulate you through geometry
24 degrees of your timid wave,
your tight jaw's circumference,
triangular insight.
My active non-action semi-circles back
and increases the radius
your own private guardian angle.

There is something I am missing
a theorem, a proof, a law,
two points, a line,
a movie that explains it all.
Hug the corners of my polygon
but I would rather see the world
from your angel.


June, 1999


David Meiklejohn's Questions:

- does the math gimmick seem too "hokey" and forced?  Does the math influence come across as the backbone of the poem which without the math the poem would fall apart, or is the influence seem as a causal metaphor that is subsidiary to the actual meaning?

- does the "angel"/"angle" word swap work?  Is it too difficult to look past the context they are used in (guardian angel, see the world from your angle)?  Do they seem like spelling errors or well-placed language manipulation?






The Albany Poetry Workshop