GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT IN SIGHT

Start with your eye, examine  
it closely: notice the iris --  
crushed silk in Wedgwood blue;  

the cornea reflecting a miniature  
world within a world.  
Observe the porcelain sclera  

as it blends into a delta  
of capillaries; your lens,  
the moon, cataract  

of shadows, a pinhole camera  
posing for refracted light.  
Images ambushed  

in a flytrap's blink disappear  
into the black hole of your eye:  
a dark target dilating with desire  

or fear. Rearrange the colors  
on a lattice of rods and cones  
until your retina has understood.  

When you have finished  
your observations, look  
in the mirror, then start over. 
 

Copyright 2000, Sharon Carter 


Sharon Carter obtained her medical degree from Cambridge University and immigrated in 1979. Her poems have been published on Metro buses, in print and on the net in journals including Raven Chronicles, TAPJoE, Melic Review, and The Horse Thief’s Journal.  Chiyo’s Corner, and Spindrift have published her visual art.

 
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