Poem: "Telling Difference"

Telling Difference

“Man, to be critic, must be connoisseur.”
—Anna Wickham, “XXXVI Friend Cato”


Since I ran around Central Park
the park has shrunk.
I was proud of my hard-bitten body,
but the cost of victory!

When we watched Amarcord,
Fellini’s small-town record,
you complained that it did not have a plot.
I couldn’t tell if you were serious or not.

I explained the rounds of sex and seasons.
You were not persuaded by reasons
so abstruse.
I saw I could run rings around you.

I was in danger
of thinking you a stranger
when I remembered you walking into the heart of the park with me
and identifying the tulip tree.

How reckless I was to figure
that a park equals its perimeter,
just because I ran around it
for a bit.

Comments

Patricia Markert said…
Dear Jee,

This poem gives me so much pleasure. The sounds of the rhymes, the skillful length of the lines, the discovery and conversational nature are all excellent. Wonderful stuff.

Patty
7:56 PM
Jee Leong said…
Dear Patty,

Your kind comment gives me much pleasure too!

Jee
8:41 AM
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