An Idea Takes Up Residence
An idea takes up residence
slowly, is moved in in pieces,
gradually, a candy dish,
a brandy snifter, a decanter.
Inside, it grows. You use it
to hold things, so it stretches.
Now it is an ottoman,
a rocking chair, a chaise.
It will hold you. You discover
this one day when you give
your weight to it. Have you,
in the seconds before sleep,
sunken into dream furnishings,
and jerked awake when your
body did not find the resistance
it expected? Here you are
testing the invented furnishings.
You will need the space
eventually, so the heaviest thing
goes. It is an effort to move
it out, a dresser with innumerable
drawers. When it goes, there
is an outline embedded in its place,
some nicks, some scratches.
"It will hold you. You discover
ReplyDeletethis one day when you give
your weight to it." I love the ideas expressed in this poem and the way you express them, how ideas grow until they hold weight, and then, fully realized, you move them out, to make room for more, but the ideas have left their impression.
that's an excellent extended metaphor...
ReplyDeleteYou are a pro at using metaphor to describe a feeling. The discovery I felt in this poem...that is what writing and reading is all about.
ReplyDelete