A Poem: Pick-Up Sticks

Each time you
—
delicately
—
ex-
cise

single
sharpened
stick
from
stack,
structure
rein-
vents itself
weight
(relentlessly)
shifts.

You can posit
balance,
fulcrum,
center
of
gravity
but still,
your next move
could
up-
end
the
universe.

This article appears in August 2013.