Thursday, October 28, 2010

Similar But Different

Similar But Different

Hold up any two items, one in each hand.
Lift them in front of you and stare into them,

one and then the other, reading and reading
them as if they were passages. These objects

are the same, they are light, they are smooth,
they remain inert and allow the pressure

of your eyes. But this one is dull and old,
has rolled in the dirt. And the other gleams,

unaccustomed to being touched. Your grip,
your gaze ties together what you consider.

These two items lean in, want to get closer.
The act of comparing is a magnet. They inch

toward each other, the dark thing brightening
and the shining one dimmer. Select any two

fragments, objects or people, ghostly-gone
or in our dimension, and see how they indeed

are similar but different. Now what. What
do you do with this knowledge. How can

you go back to seeing any thing in isolation,
knowing that all is affixed, like scissors.

4 comments

  1. I cannot go back now : ) I am just now comparing my hands on the keyboard, actually those are mirror images! Lovely poem Hannah! xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Hannah,

    I love this poem, the lead up to them, and the closing lines:

    "Now what. What
    do you do with this knowledge. How can

    you go back to seeing any thing in isolation,
    knowing that all is affixed, like scissors."

    I can apply this to all things profound, and I do, but right now, I am applying it to choosing a stuffed animal. Every vacation trip, we bring back an animal or two. It is terrible trouble looking at each little stuffed face, denying one, accepting another, narrowing it to two, almost identical, but different in some aspect, the width of the face, the set of the eyes, wanting to keep them both, and ultimately, leaving one behind, still thinking about the other one left in the bin, or on the shelf, like you've just separated fraternal twins.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice- scissors are a pair, but is one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your poem takes off where the drawing begins. I love the concept of your blog and the poems. Great images and poetry.

    ReplyDelete

The Storialist. All rights reserved. © Maira Gall.