This year I’ve decided to share some poems. If you look wayyyyyyyyyy back in my blog post history, you can find some VERY old ones I posted. I find poetry an interesting creative medium. It’s not one that’s really resonated with me very strongly, like it does for some people. But I am interested in rhetorical devices, and I do occasionally delve into poetry to express a feeling or idea, or as a creative exercise.

I do not think of myself as a poet, and I do not take my poetry particularly seriously nor do I expect anyone else to. but do feel free to compliment me if you want lol

This poem is about wearing glasses. I’ve worn them since I was about 8; nearly everyone in my immediate and extended family wears them. And recently, my eyesight has begun to grow worse, so I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I have a long-standing, low-level fear of completely losing my eyesight. Hopefully that won’t happen, but you never know.

At any rate, thinking about my eyesight produced this poem.

The World Grows Small

When I take off my glasses the world grows small
Smaller and smaller and smaller and small.
I can’t see the sky or the moon or the stars.
I can’t see the reddish glow of Mars.
I can’t see the hawk that lives in the trees.
I can’t see the wind that tickles the leaves.
I can’t see the dandelions bright in the lawn.
I can’t see the cat’s teeth when she yawns.
I can’t see the paintings hung on the walls.
I can’t see the way my handwriting scrawls.
All I see is a haze, a fuzz,
like the whole world’s shifted to a visual buzz.
But if I bring it close to my face,
sometimes I can read the words on the page.
When I take off my glasses, the world grows small,
Smaller and smaller and smaller and small.