A P R I L 1 9 9 3
THIS LIFE
by Kay RyanHear Kay Ryan read this poem (in RealAudio):
(For help, see a note about the audio.)
Also by Kay Ryan:
Among English Verbs (1998)
Emptiness (1993)
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It's a pickle, this life.
Even shut down to a trickle
it carries every kind of particle
that causes strife on a grander scale:
to be miniature is to be swallowed
by a miniature whale. Zeno knew
the law that we know: no matter
how carefully diminished, a race
can only be half finished with success;
then comes the endless halving of the rest --
the ribbon's stalled approach, the helpless
red-faced urgings of the coach.
Kay Ryan is the author of four books of poetry, including Elephant Rocks(1996).
Copyright © 1993 by Kay Ryan. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; April 1993; This Life; Volume 271, No. 4; page 99.
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