Upon Discovering My Entire Solution to the Attainment of Immortality Erased from the Blackboard Except the Word ‘Save’

If you have seen the snow

somewhere slowly fall

on a bicycle,

then you understand

all beauty will be lost,

and how even that loss

can be beautiful.

And if you have looked

at a winter garden

and seen not a winter garden

but a meditation on shape,

then you know why

this season is not

known for its words,

the cold too much

about the slowing of matter,

not enough about the making of it.

So you are blessed

to forget this way:

a jump rope in the ice melt,

a mitten that has lost its hand,

a sun that shines

as if it doesn’t mean it.

And if in another season

you see a beautiful woman

use her bare hands

to smooth wrinkles

from her expensive dress

for the sake of dignity,

but in so doing trace

the outlines of her thighs,

then you will remember

surprise assumes a space

that has first been forgotten,

especially here, where we

rarely speak of it,

where we walk out onto the roofs

of frozen lakes

simply because we’re stunned

we really can.

“Upon Discovering My Entire Solution to the Attainment of Immortality Erased from the Blackboard Except the Word ‘Save’ ” was published in Polar, (Alice James Books, 2005).