Monday, February 06, 2012

Poem of the Day: "Paired Things" (Kay Ryan Week™), Day 6)

Paired Things

Who, who had only seen wings,
could extrapolate the
skinny sticks of things
birds use for land,
the backward way they bend,
the silly way they stand?
And who, only studying
birdtracks in the sand,
could think those little forks
had decamped on the wind?
So many paired things seem odd.
Who ever would have dreamed
the broad winged raven of despair
would quit the air and go
bandylegged upon the ground,
a common crow?

-- Kay Ryan

The link goes to an essay by Dana Gioia about Ryan's work, in which this poem was quoted.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for our big, multiverse-shattering Kay Ryan Week™ finale! It'll be one for the ages!

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