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Epic Simile

By Elizabeth ArnoldPosted Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2003, at 12:00 PM ET

Listen to Elizabeth Arnold reading this poem.


Just as planets move
in relation to each other

through the dark,

the air between them
too thin to survive

yet tensed against their pulling,

or continents of night
revolving,

joinable, if ever,

by frail tunnels disappearing into
multiplying folds of space;

so we move, rooms

or inches from each other
as if hope of light were over.

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This fall Elizabeth Arnold will begin as an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland.
Click here to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.


To submit poetry to Slate, send up to five poems and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Robert Pinsky, Slate Magazine, Boston University, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215.
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