Clinton Van Inman’s most recent poem to appear here was Sylvia (January 2012).
The Real Missing Mass
By Clinton Van Inman
The Real Missing Mass
By Clinton Van Inman
They say that most of you is missing
Perhaps even from your private places
Something more than just an arm or leg
And deeper than your darkest spaces.
Researchers conclude as much as 90 percent
Lost deduced from a long line of Xs and Os
But it takes no greater science to tell me
Your muted mysteries no one knows.
I too have peered down your opaque passages
Have felt your fractal pulse dimensionless
Have seen your eyes hidden in a veil of stars
And knew then that you are quite figureless.
Like staring at the stars
You cannot be seen directly
Because you are a tease only.
Perhaps even from your private places
Something more than just an arm or leg
And deeper than your darkest spaces.
Researchers conclude as much as 90 percent
Lost deduced from a long line of Xs and Os
But it takes no greater science to tell me
Your muted mysteries no one knows.
I too have peered down your opaque passages
Have felt your fractal pulse dimensionless
Have seen your eyes hidden in a veil of stars
And knew then that you are quite figureless.
Like staring at the stars
You cannot be seen directly
Because you are a tease only.
Clever and deep. Well done.