hati

Saw a poem on the subway today that the MTA has in the cars. I liked it, so I memorized it.

With love so like fire they dared not
Let it out into strawy small talk;
With love so like a flood they dared not
Let out a trickle, lest the whole crack.

These two sat speechlessly;
Pale cool tea in tea-cups chaperoned
Stillness, silence, the eyes
Where fire and flood strained.



My high school English teacher taught us that the best way to memorize a poem was to divide it up in 4ths, and start the memorization process at the 3rd quarter. Becuase that's where you always forget the lines, but you always remember the start and the finish. This way, you still remember the start and finish becuase that's the way they're written, but you don't forget the poem 3/4s of the way through.

What's funny about that in this case in that if you start reading the poem at "These two sat speechlessly" and end at "let out a trickle lest the whole crack" the poem sounds more logical, but less beautiful. I thought that was cool.