Rides by
On her custom
Scaled-down
Bicycle,
Ignores our questioning
Glances
And pauses before
A stall
Full of fresh green leafy vegetables,
To show her farmer lady friend
What it is she has
We were wondering about
In that small
Brown flower pot--
A snail,
Small as a new-born baby's thumbnail
And a tiny tenderfoot tortoise--
Miniature grotesques
Along for the ride
Like the rest of us,
Looking curiously
Larger than life.
(First published in First Intensity #21, Fall 2006)
I love how "Looking curiously / Larger than life" inhabits a grammatical open ground where it can apply to the snail, the tortoise, and/or "the rest of us," as if the glimpse into the miniature world makes everything "larger than life." I can't explain the strong effect—like that instant when the express elevator accelerates upward....
ReplyDeleteExcellent poem. I wonder if this is the same woman who came to our door, when we lived in Meligalas, to sell us flowers.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same woman, John--and she's still alive and alert as ever--too bad the people who make fun of her never see how grotesque their behavior is. Glad both Joe and you liked the poem.
ReplyDelete