Startled by Existence

Ode to the eye  3 /90

Patterned on the backmost curvature of eye,

The great Retina-Dome--Rod and Cone—

Inner-Cup Coliseum

captures the illumed world

and decodes with the aid

of some many million

R & C sense-cell minicams.

 

Do you remember rod and cone cells?

Bio 101 Refresher:

Consider your eye in form

A lollipop, with

lash attached and leering from the bone

like the part of a clam which shows,

between the parted shells:

Stereo tadpoles

bulbous in the skull;

tails streaming backward

at your brain …

Consider your eye, this time within:

Mini-twins

of the Houston Astrodome.

(This works best while lying on your back)

The spanning bubble roof with the skylight hole

corresponds to your iris,

The coliseum wrap with arena base –

your retina.

Billy Graham is preaching.

Every inch of stadium is full.

 The CONE-heads in the center all wear

colored shades and sip a chosen hue:

lemonade, cyan, or red.

The RODgers on the rim

are colorblind and love dim rooms.

Now do you remember Rod and Cone cells?

The greater part of poetry would celebrate

the lesser part of any eye:

A marble-colored muscle, shinning life

and riveting our gaze.

But …

REAL seeing is a corporate vision.

The sum of each myopic rod and cone,

Siphoning a pixel, feeding a mosaic.

Remember –

Your first act of faith

is believing what you see.