Two-dimensional
By Jal Nicholl
Published 12 February 2021
as a crab
evidently
wishes to be
stepping sideways
into the future
never to focus
on anything
no temptation
to look down
at your feet
that take turns
occupying
your field of vision
like a shoe
inevitably
instead you look up at the skies, waiting
for “cloud-based learning” to “occur”
in imagination, which is
nowhere in particular
algae inhabiting the crest of a wave
ask Where have we come from,
where are we going
there's a vanishing
point at which
all sense of place
vanishes
though collectible
as a Victorian
postage stamp
this hidden earth
registering
tectonic pressure
like a graph
a steady rise
with shallow troughs
playing house rules
monopoly:
uneven building allowed
then the heavens say, Fire! and water comes down
filling the trough where horses used to drink
View this poem on The Disappearing »