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Chard deNiord: I Call Out to You
Any moving object must reach halfway on a course before it reaches the end; and because there are an infinite number of halfway points, a moving object never reaches the end in a finite time.
— Zeno
I call out to you
from the porch to meet me
on the path to teach me
again how to solve
the distance between you
and me as a void that’s far
too full of halves, no matter
how close we get to each other,
but which you, in turn,
find a way to cross each time
by breaking the law
of long division that saves
me then from mathematical
oblivion into which I’d fall
each time without your hold
of me on the ledge of a half.
~~~~
Chard deNiord is the author of In My Unknowing (Pitt, 2020) and the essay editor at Plume Poetry Journal. He lives in Westminster West, Vermont with his wife, Liz.
Copyright 2024 Chard deNiord
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An eternal love poem.
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Love this!
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Stunning poem.
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Yes, it is.
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Chard, friend– what a fabulous poem!
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Grinning, both from the poem and Jim’s observation.
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Thank you Chard. I so appreciate this clear, brilliant, poignant poem.
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I do too, Chuck. Zeno’s paradox is three thousand years old. To do something surprising and original with it is quite an accomplishment.
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Compelling! I SO relate. We are lucky men, Chard!
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It’s refreshing to read a poem with some mathematical oblivion in it; a broken paradox, ending as the poet gets held up again by a lover or the reader, on the ledge of a half in the paradoxology of love.
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Exactly. Well-said, Jim.
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