1

In my youth, I craved the small picture,

the autistic strung-out
hearts of ivy, star jasmine,

the “on and on”
without budging.

I liked Russian icons,

circles
within circles in

the virgin’s halo,
the way her cloak

matched the sky which
was not the sky at all.

2

Now I see
that the outsized “personalities”

of our day,
the Brad and Angies,

have the blurred, grainy texture
indicative of stretching.

We get a faint ping
back
when we focus on these objects.

3

“An electron
is an excitation

in an electron field,”

a permanent tizzy
in the presence of

what?

Like thought
it creates the ground
it covers,

like thought,
it can’t stop