Poems

The Telescope

I peered through a telescope, to infinity it seemed, but nothing behind the eye to see, no focusing that way;

Day by day I peered, each day the distance shrank, but now behind the eye, a lengthening distance grew;

A length of twine unwound,
stretched to furthest end,
I began to roll it up,
seeking the distant end.

I turned the telescope, to look behind me as it were, each day the distance grew, sharply focusing that way;

Turning ‘round again I peered, the distance shrunk to nothing, loomed beyond, infinity, though nearer in a way;

As I wound the ball of twine,
unwound the other end,
the length before me gone,
now came the bitter end.

22 thoughts on “The Telescope”

  2. Masterful imagery. It astounds me how unique your poetry: definitely one of a kind (in the best way). This one, like the others, is indelibly ingrained in my mind’s eye now. (As a high school English teacher, I have extra wordsmith-appreciation geekiness.)

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    1. Unique in that I haven’t studied poetic forms and structure beyond tinkering with those that pique my interest. I like Haiku and Haibun, and I recently discovered the Villanelle. I was disappointed when -Gasp!- they told me rhyming poetry was so far out only rubes rhymed anymore.
      I’ve written prose -fiction- for so long that I’m afraid my voice has carried into poetry. But I find I like writing poetry very much. That would please my English professor who nearly disowned me when I switched majors to History 🙂 I dreamed of teaching High School English, but life got in the way.
      Thank you for appreciating my style and work 🙂

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      1. More like unique in your diction and analogies and fresh takes on common topics; it inspires me as a writer, honestly. I like the puzzle-like challenge of fitting words into a formula for form and structure, but rules, in general, go against my creative and personal nature, so I avoid traditional forms usually. 🙂 I cringe and run away when rhyme gets too simple and forced; I like when it’s more cleverly blended in, and I do favor slant rhyme.

        Funny, I’m exactly the opposite: I’ve written so many poems lately that it rather annoyingly carries over into my prose. Don’t be afraid about YOUR voice carrying over; that seems like a good thing! As for teaching HS English, I honestly would do it for free at the wonderful public school I’m currently at. Love my babies, I mean…ahem… young adults. (Currently, I’m launching a WP blog with them to showcase their writing, and I have another personal blog under a not-so-secretive name.)

        I’m delighted to have found your work and look forward to your future posts and exploring your archives. 🙂

        ~T.T.

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      7. It’s a time thing for me. My commute to DC is an hour each way and my work days are longer since I take every second Friday off. I’m beat by the time I get home but I ‘ll write for an hour or so after supper. Weekends I work the honey-do list, but I’m an early riser so I’m at my desk, coffee cask in hand, by 0500, paging through the reader and tinkering with a poem or writing my novel. The dogs hound me for a car ride to 7-11 (I share an apple fritter with them) at 0800. Great alarm clocks.

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      8. I read before bed and write every early morning (which gets annoying when you have to watch the clock for work later, but my paid day job is a passion, too). Just my youngest, teen daughter, currently in the house, and she’s an artist, so that’s fun. We’re both practicing nature photographers. I had to put our only dog down a few months ago; I know you lost one of yours, as I think I discovered you over that post. Ooooh, a novel, you say?…. Stop luring me in. (:

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      9. I’ve queried 102 agents. 47 have taken the time to formally reject my manuscript, via form letter. The novel is a fictionalized memoir of my observations of Sailors while stationed in the Philippines in the 80s. I think it’s the Sailors and barmaid aspect agents don’t think would sell. Unless my fiction writing really, really sucks.

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      10. Well that doesn’t inspire me to start my novel… just kidding. I highly doubt your fiction sucks, but I’m happy to more fully judge it (like in the summer because I still haven’t actually gotten out of bed to make the coffee to grade the papers…).

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      12. Door stop like it functionally and hospitably opens and holds the door? That’s also a metaphor for where I’m currently at personally in my life, for the first time even, I suppose.

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      15. I love the reader! I navigate two ways: most often from the reader to catch up with my followers, and from my notifications bar where I read those whose work I don’t want to miss. I don’t use “Discover” much, but use the poetry/prose poetry tag most of all tags.

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      16. For sure, the reader is key, but once I peruse and find what I hope to be a good read from the excerpts, like a book shelf and jackets, I open it like a good book in the site, for the full atmosphere and aesthetics, I suppose.

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