∞

May 13^th: One Thing I Wish I was Smart Enough to Understand No one understands everything, but everyone wants to understand something. Spend a little time discussing one of those fascinating subjects which you just don’t get. Why does it interest you? What don’t you understand? “everything falls apart as you approach infinity” -Dr. Lovric for all your frightening vastness, you hide in a tiny corner of my mind my thoughts, like curious children inch closer, only to flee no friendly giant, no kind old man, just a deafening silence that blinds for all your frightening vastness, you are more invisible than the indivisible I hesitate as I draw lopsided loops, lassos around hollow emptiness, never capturing more than seductive echoes, never catching sight of you for all your frightening vastness, you are caged in four short syllables but they say you seep through time and space, benign beginnings bear no meaning for you, endings, endless mockeries you seep through time and space and into me, and etch yourself on the back of my skin. You, who laugh at boundaries, draw one around my ability to comprehend eternity.

Who

Last week's topic was "Who I Am":

in albums, I am tucked away in plastic,

lips perpetually caught between

the curve of a smile and the perfect ‘o’

of astonishment; wonder, now a stranger

in books, I sit near weathered edges

watching words wind themselves

into life, into people, into laughter

watching words watch me carefully

in sentences, an overused semicolon

fusing clauses instead of causes

hanging uncertainly, as you wonder

how long to pause, how long to linger

on roads, I am a yellow dashed line

no peeling paint will fill these gaps

nor should it; rain falls through gaps

not solid lines. You switch lanes.

on the shoreline, I am a bent tree,

a phototrope thirsty for my God,

growing up, sideways, realizing

growth is the only route to the Divine.

in the sky, an unnamed constellation

a set of silent stars, dimly lit but glowing

shape formed by those who lie on grass

and speak to the beauty of a dark sky.

Introduction

Alec Thomson, who was my Western Civilization TA in first year, challenged the world to write an essay a week for the summer. To challenge his authority (just kidding, Alec), I am going to try writing a poem a week instead.
I will try to stick to the topics he suggested but can't guarantee anything.
Enjoy.