Sally Bliumis-Dunn

Tell it Slant

Have to sail at an angle,
never directly into the wind –

other things too –

can’t look right at the sun,
the world, only visible
in the light that falls around it;

and in books as well,
the best drawn characters most often
evolve through indirection:

a lipstick smear on a collar,
contents of a bedroom drawer;

I imagine a single
two by twelve board
I need to lean against a barn –

it won’t even stand unless
I place it at an angle.

I don’t know how many other
things like this are true,

but I like trying
to see her words –

the tall right triangle the barn
and board create together,

the purple tufts of clover
slightly darker in the grass.

Sally Bliumis-Dunn

"Tell it Slant" first appeared in Poetry Kanto, 2008, No. 24.

Posted on May 16, 2009 6:52 AM