This poem is taken from PN Review 264, Volume 48 Number 4, March - April 2022.
The Circle and other poems
The Circle
In the circle one of the girls said
before this I was an accountant
and a vase
and we knew
what she meant – something like
a multi-purpose function room
or how in a buffeting wind
a tree is also
a ritual lion-dance performance.
The facilitator replied so let’s
consider the relationship between a piece
of pottery and the maternal womb
but the girl said no that’s not it
more like isn’t that amazing
to be two things at once
like in the middle ages when bread
on the tongue was also the body
and wine was the blood
and no fuss was made
because though you can count
...
In the circle one of the girls said
before this I was an accountant
and a vase
and we knew
what she meant – something like
a multi-purpose function room
or how in a buffeting wind
a tree is also
a ritual lion-dance performance.
The facilitator replied so let’s
consider the relationship between a piece
of pottery and the maternal womb
but the girl said no that’s not it
more like isn’t that amazing
to be two things at once
like in the middle ages when bread
on the tongue was also the body
and wine was the blood
and no fuss was made
because though you can count
...
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