EXCAVATING THE GRACE NOTE

By Peter Cooley

To get me through the noon,

                                                            Afternoon, evening,

                                                                                                     I need to focus

On the Amsler Grid,

                                        Square of paper

                                                                          Gifted me by the retina specialist,

Lines horizonal,

                                    Vertical, intersecting,

                                                                                Cross-hatched, a dot dead-center.

Are the lines straight? Or wavy?

                                                                The dot centralized? Right eye

Says no, left eye,

                                   Yes. Monocular vision

                                                                                 My eye doc would proclaim.

But when both eyes

                                          Turn to the blue window,

                                                                                             Gold coruscates the panes.

There’s something here

                                                I can bring inside.          

                                                                                       Turn to,

Let it prayMultifoliate, gilt-

Music

               All day,

               While I pray back--    

Peter Cooley has published 12 books of poetry, most recently ACCOUNTING FOR THE DARK published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. He is a Professor Emeritus at Tulane University in New Orleans where he resides.