Finding Time

JoAnne Growney

 

Points chase points
around the circle,
anti-clockwise,
fighting time.
You know time's a circle,
rather than a line.

Make a line a circle!
Pick a center.
Wrap and wrap and wrap
the line around the rim.
How do the ends
get tucked in?

Cut a circle open,
stretch into a line.
Does the cut destroy
a point or fit
between a pair?
If the cut's midway

from now to Tuesday,
how do I get there?
Do I move on
by going back,
or may I
skip a space?

A square is neither a line
nor circle; it is timeless.
Points don't chase around
a square.  Firm, steady,
it sits there and knows
its place.  A circle
won't be squared.


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