Doing the Math
Here we are, paralyzed by despair, stunned by the sum
of headlines, considering what natural habitat, wine,
mystery, or music might imprison our fear or dolor
in an empty set. Then we might graph the amplitude
of the good mind, look again for elephant seals
near Cambria, the haystack rock rising from Morro Bay, or
capes of monarchs draped at Pismo Beach: the little
eucalyptus grove layered in velvet until the sun heats up
like higher order exponents, and orange orange orange
wings slip like an abacus from staid humility to full fan
and float. Palominos appear, ghost the trail to the long, open
beach, shimmer the surface of tea poured from a faithful
thermos. Suddenly, the cup is wings and hooves, clouds
and leaves, and we whisper esperanza as trees take flight.
of headlines, considering what natural habitat, wine,
mystery, or music might imprison our fear or dolor
in an empty set. Then we might graph the amplitude
of the good mind, look again for elephant seals
near Cambria, the haystack rock rising from Morro Bay, or
capes of monarchs draped at Pismo Beach: the little
eucalyptus grove layered in velvet until the sun heats up
like higher order exponents, and orange orange orange
wings slip like an abacus from staid humility to full fan
and float. Palominos appear, ghost the trail to the long, open
beach, shimmer the surface of tea poured from a faithful
thermos. Suddenly, the cup is wings and hooves, clouds
and leaves, and we whisper esperanza as trees take flight.
Sept / Oct 2023
Melissa McKinstry holds an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Her poems appear in Rattle, Alaska Quarterly Review, Rust & Moth, december, Tahoma Literary Review, SWWIM, Nimrod International, Beloit Poetry Journal, and other journals. She’s been nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, a Pushcart Prize, and Orison’s Best Spiritual Literature. In collaboration with her designer husband, she curates a community Poet Tree in San Diego.
Art: Cam Pietralunga. Saturday Morning at the Corner Store. Acrylic on canvas.