hypotenuses
TRANSCRIPT
Trustees of Boston University
HypotenusesAuthor(s): Ann TaylorSource: Arion, Third Series, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 2001), p. 56Published by: Trustees of Boston UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163828 .
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Hypotenuses
ANN TAYLOR
Pythagoras would be pleased with the white night cats of Pujayo,
ruling their diagonals across the village square. From my balcony, I watch one draw straight to the red bracts of bougainvillea, another to the slapping cat door
into the stable, and then one direct
to the dusty dryness of the crumbling fountain.
Mountain mastiffs and hungry shepherds snore and growl, guarding cottage doors
and waiting, hoping for one cat to swerve.
But no, time and death have taught them to
ignore all deviations, itches, urges to hiss at sidelines.
They stop, survey, and with legs blurred into
an almost-skirt, they dash to where no
dogs can go, reaching their conclusions.
The paths they take are as thin as
their backbones, and aligned like the
Cantabrian cordillera they know as home.
Pythagoras would love the elegance of
their angles and those shadow lines that, were they drawn, would form a starry burst
from a central hub of pure motion; he would know the lure of their purposes, the drive in direction, the life in striking true.
This content downloaded from 194.29.185.216 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:04:13 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions