10-09-2015, 06:17 AM
Spectrophotometry
A column of light
broken by streaks of blackness
well-measured,
each interrupting
band a disappointment,
a disease,
a death in the family,
–traces of lead, silver, cinnabar–
with the whole being
just a perfect circle’s arc
pressed and stretched
for the viewer’s convenience.
Not even
the subtlest implication
of the circle must exist –
light is a line, not a wheel,
and the dutiful scientist asks
no questions.
Today must become yesterday as
tomorrow today
and the dates on the calendar transform
into memories, stories
warped for the message,
marks on the line graph.
(I'd returned to this a good four months or so ago, to find that the total revision didn't work, that it was ray's suggestion worked best. Posting this return edit for the sake of another piece I'd just posted, which works as a sort of response to this)
A column of light
broken by streaks of blackness
well-measured,
each interrupting
band a disappointment,
a disease,
a death in the family,
–traces of lead, silver, cinnabar–
with the whole being
just a perfect circle’s arc
pressed and stretched
for the viewer’s convenience.
Not even
the subtlest implication
of the circle must exist –
light is a line, not a wheel,
and the dutiful scientist asks
no questions.
Today must become yesterday as
tomorrow today
and the dates on the calendar transform
into memories, stories
warped for the message,
marks on the line graph.
(I'd returned to this a good four months or so ago, to find that the total revision didn't work, that it was ray's suggestion worked best. Posting this return edit for the sake of another piece I'd just posted, which works as a sort of response to this)