Poet's Corner

"Geometry"

Rita Dove

Poem explanation

1    I prove a theorem and the house expands:



     the windows jerk free to hover near the ceiling,



     the ceiling floats away with a sigh.





     As the walls clear themselves of everything



5    but transparency, the scent of carnations



     leaves with them. I am out in the open





     and above the windows have hinged into butterflies,



     sunlight glinting where they've intersected.



     They are going to some point true and unproven.

Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale, 1997.