11.2 (Winter 2007) | The 2River View Authors • Poems • PDF • Past Issues • 2River |
Quantum Canine
For Stubby, who observed
Chasing ducks, our dog Apple
Falls into a lake & floats. I start
To think about Newton & gravity
& a grand metaphorical scheme
To bind in verse. But the play
Of light on water is too complex
For these Saturday afternoon
Philosophies, the quacking
Too insistent for any math, physics
Newtonian or otherwise simply lacking
Compared to canine appreciation of
The moment. This is levity,
The opposite of gravity, though both are
Beyond time. That may not be
Entirely true, but I have a dog
To fish from a lake, &
Relative to that, who cares?
While you’re gone
For Kate
The house is too big.
The bed is toosmall. The space
where you sleepwon’t breathe. I
float throughthe rooms, remember
suddenly somethingof you, then lose it.
I watchthe fish turn over
and over its solitarythought, unaware,
unable to decideif this is a miracle
or just waiting—our breathing
without air.