saturday poem

Reflections

she saw the world from inside out, he saw it upsidedown:

she was a geophysicist.
he was a white faced clown.

They had much in common;
for example, both enjoyed the moon,

she from an interest in its rocks,
craters, and other messages;

he from an interest in its tides,
and its reflection of his own white face.

Of their children , according
to the laws of heredity,

one played a clarinet, one danced a minuet
and two were fortune tellers.

Other children came up in the garden,
dressed as lilac, broom, or apple trees.

All were unable to pass examinations,
but some wrote songs, some played,

and were able to amuse their parents,
as, aging, unable to speak to one another,

they watched the moon together,

he from an interest in its geophysics,
she for its reflection of her own white face.

-- Janet Dube  

(image from  Trio Film (1968) - Yvonne Rainer)