{"id":25212,"date":"2019-08-29T10:42:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rachelswirsky.com\/?p=2302"},"modified":"2019-08-29T10:42:02","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T17:42:02","slug":"remembering-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=25212","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

The king is dying,<\/span><\/p>\n

memory fading.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now honor is gone<\/span><\/p>\n

now yesterday\u2019s dinner<\/span><\/p>\n

now mother\u2019s hand stroking<\/span><\/p>\n

the ermine collar<\/span><\/p>\n

of her deathbed gown.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(For now, the world<\/span><\/p>\n

flat and finite<\/span><\/p>\n

like his mind. The ocean\u2019s<\/span><\/p>\n

crisp boundaries<\/span><\/p>\n

spill over four corners<\/span><\/p>\n

like memory, disappearing.)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The king orders<\/span><\/p>\n

a fleet of glass galleons<\/span><\/p>\n

set out to explore<\/span><\/p>\n

the edge of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

They launch, crystal sails<\/span><\/p>\n

aloft in the sun,<\/span><\/p>\n

casting rainbows<\/span><\/p>\n

through ocean spray.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(A century hence,<\/span><\/p>\n

the world will be round<\/span><\/p>\n

like a fruit:<\/span><\/p>\n

one endless circumference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Minds, too, become<\/span><\/p>\n

deeper thoughts hidden<\/span><\/p>\n

like icebergs<\/span><\/p>\n

submerged in men\u2019s souls.)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sailing toward<\/span><\/p>\n

the periphery<\/span><\/p>\n

translucence deepens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ships pale, disappear,<\/span><\/p>\n

til but one is left.<\/span><\/p>\n

Atop the survivor\u2019s mast<\/span><\/p>\n

the king\u2019s sole<\/span><\/p>\n

remaining lieutenant<\/span><\/p>\n

peers at knife\u2019s edge horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world tapers<\/span><\/p>\n

stretched thin. Sky bleeds\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

navy, royal, azure<\/span><\/p>\n

fainter\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to absence\u2019s hue.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(World and man<\/span><\/p>\n

exchange simplicity<\/span><\/p>\n

for paradox,<\/span><\/p>\n

linearity curving<\/span><\/p>\n

swallows its tail.<\/span><\/p>\n

The traveler\u2019s straight path<\/span><\/p>\n

leads home again,<\/span><\/p>\n

in the end. His marriage<\/span><\/p>\n

disintegrates<\/span><\/p>\n

in childhood\u2019s castles.)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beyond, nothing<\/span><\/p>\n

save slow cascade\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of water pouring nowhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

King\u2019s faded schooner<\/span><\/p>\n

balances on edge<\/span><\/p>\n

one moment neither<\/span><\/p>\n

within nor without.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heavy, stern dips<\/span><\/p>\n

mast creaks and shatters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tipping over<\/span><\/p>\n

she falls<\/span><\/p>\n

following oceans<\/span><\/p>\n

over precipice<\/span><\/p>\n

to comprehension,<\/span><\/p>\n

lost.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The king is dying, memory fading. Now honor is gone now yesterday’s dinner now mother’s hand stroking the ermine collar of her deathbed gown.   (For now, the world flat and finite like his mind. The ocean’s crisp boundaries spill … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25213,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25212\/revisions\/25213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}