11-2-2017 (by Mitch Sisskind)

One class of problems – 
Math people will attest 
to this – can be clearly
Articulated whereupon 
It only remains for an 
Answer to be found 
Or never to be found
But finding the answer
Is of small significance
And even of sad banality
Relative to the problem’s
Articulated clarity which 
Inherently demotes it to 
A purgatory of minor interest.

Another class of problem 
Ghostly and insinuating
Can’t be rendered in words 
Or symbols but you definitely 
Know it’s there, you feel it 
As something very wrong 
With you but what? What?
You try to find words for it
Or to create a mental image 
For this problem in intimate 
Conversations or before sleep
And if it occurs to you that
You might not awaken -- 
Or is that the problem at last?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[The Best American Poetry]

I found myself nodding my head in agreement and sleep. -- DL