“To Curve Nothing Sweeter is the Delight”: A Three-Part Meditation on Love
1.
Sleeping is reddening
evening is feeling;
in mounting feeling,
there is anticipation.
To exchange meaning
and see the difference,
a meadow is useful
more than a memory.
All the circle is thinner
and to hurry the measure
is to shine brilliantly the yellow
sand of recurrence and change.
2.
There is a surface
there is an exception,
there are tears and reestablishment
in a dividing time and every time.
Inside the between that is turning,
there is no place to hold;
to send everything away
is simpler—all room, no shadow.
The space between shows a likeness
and even claims a harmony;
all the rush is in the blood,
bargaining for a little touch.
3.
To satisfy a singularity and not be blinder,
to surrender to one another,
to succeed, to surprise no sinner,
to curve nothing sweeter is the delight.
Not to make a sound, but to suggest
a whole chance to be reasonable,
means nothing precious is excellent
except the precious, stouter symmetry.
The evening is long, and the colder
spring has sudden shadows;
lilacs are disturbed, composed—
this is a result and the rest a remainder.
Source text: This poem is composed entirely of sundry phrases from the prose poem “Roast Beef” in the FOOD section of Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein.
Definitions as if Poured from Time
Remembrance: The sweet smoke of déjà vu clouds.
Romance: Velocity in slow motion.
Symmetry: Moonlight coins on tranquil rivers.
Philosophy: Answers reshaping the questions.
Genesis: Space-time kisses away darkness.
Chaos: The half-life of infinity.
Dasein: Being there is having been there.
Folly: Wisdom blindfolded by love.
Melancholy: Ghosts shaping the deep blue of loss.
Solipsism: The outcome of landlocked feelings.
Whimsy: A toehold in the looking glass.
Satire: Irony set to go dancing.
About the Poet
Christina Murphy’s poetry is an exploration of consciousness as subjective experience, and her poems appear in a wide range of journals and anthologies, including, PANK, Dali’s Lovechild, and Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal, and the anthologies From the Roaring Deep: A Devotional in Honor of Poseidon and the Spirits of the Sea, The Great Gatsby Anthology, and Remaking Moby-Dick. Her work has been nominated multiples times for the Pushcart Prize and for the Best of the Net anthology.