Object Study: Math Compass
Calculations in reverse, in a constant V.
The point of a half pencil always in the state
of wearing down, never pointed at the equation,
the obtuse look in your eye at its half circle
musings. The flick of the wrist constructing
pi again and again, much like swirls of cream
in coffee, cigarette smoking intangibles,
or the clock ticking still. Acute was what
you were looking for, the angle turning
in, constricting numerical forms, utterances
of the Pythagorean Theorem, going backward
always backward as if your unbirth could rename
the womb. You could always number every
person you met, yet could not remember
the names, every name of a first kiss, the last
smile of your grandmother, the slanted glance
of a spiteful lover; always turning, turning
to a point, back to pi, the never ending story.
You're most likely aware of John Donne's wonderful "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," but if not, please return to it. His use of the compass as metaphysical conceit is superb. Any poem that deals with the object would, it seems, have to account for that tour de force.
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ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent conversation I really enjoy that particular poem by Donne. It brings other questions to my mind concerning the nature and origin of metaphysical conceit?
ReplyDeleteSince Shakespeare already penned the lines , "My Mistress eyes are nothing like the sun.." clearly poking fun at the patriarchal conceit as old hat. was he as some critics argue experimenting with what would be coined later as metaphysical conceit?
"The Phonex and the Turtle" perhaps as an example.
Sorry if this is too far off subject;
meanwhile, very smart writing here Randie:
"Acute was what you were looking for, the angle turning in, constricting numerical forms, utterances of the Pythagorean Theorem, going backward always backward as if your unbirth could rename the womb."... what en excellent image, so sharp and striking. How does one's mind manage to create that? I would be interested to hear.