Geometric Solids

In high school,
I learned to shape opinions 
into squares:
the building blocks 
of matter, of life, of history—
 stackable, storeable, neat 
like Tupperware.
I made a world of toys.

In college.
I learned in circles 
(a rounded education):
the Platonic sphere, 
the cycles of things, 
Hegel's spiral.
I squeezed the universe into a ball. 
rolled it toward the overwhelming question, 
and it rolled right back again, 
undisturbed.

These days, I think 
in wavy lines and arcs: 
the koala bear's opposable thumb,
a lick of moon, the sleeping cat, 
my lover's hair spilled over the pillow; 
sloppy fluid things 
that don't add up—
tigers in the snow!
Chaotic, mostly living. 
they'll die
or burst from time to time 
like stars.


The Shape of Things, by Terrance Pare