389th Virtual Poetry Circle
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Welcome to the 389th Virtual Poetry Circle!
Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.
Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s book suggested.
Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.
Today’s poem is from Cynthia Zarin:
Skating in Harlem, Christmas Day
To Mary Jo Salter
Beyond the ice-bound stones and bucking trees,
past bewildered Mary, the Meer in snow,
two skating rinks and two black crooked paths
are a battered pair of reading glasses scratched by the skater’s multiplying math. Beset, I play this game of tic-tac-toe.
Divide, subtract. Who can tell if love surpasses? Two naughts we’ve learned make one astonished 0— a hectic night of goats and compasses.
Folly tells the truth by what it’s not— one X equals a fall I’d not forgo. Are ice and fire the integers we’ve got?
Skating backwards tells another story— the risky star above the freezing town, a way to walk on water and not drown.
What do you think?