Oh, you rascal, you’ve been placing candles
On the backs of tortoises again,
Haven’t you? It’s been a while since
You last went plundering, and things are not,
Not quite, as you remembered, scurrying
In all directions as you try to prise
Them from their fixed accommodations, and
Now your whole sense of self is out of whack.
Calm down, will you? You only need to gather
Your thoughts, re-establish good relations—
Diplomacy, you know? A little tact
Goes a long way. This way the tortoise lights,
But now it’s vanishing around the corner,
And it hits you: you are lost here, in
The furrows, too deep to get back out. That’s when
You hear the worked-up owner: Not again!
- Aaron Novick
About the author
Aaron Novick is an assistant professor of philosophy at Purdue University. His poetry has appeared in Notre Dame Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Dunes Review, and elsewhere. He tweets as @AmneMachin
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