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Poetry of Sheldon Kranz

Problem in Space

I sit and listen

While part of me drifts among the coffee cups,

No longer wanting to look at you.

I talk and smile acutely

While—gently floating—

I look down on our quiet heads

And find the tops of heads most curious.

You would not know this,

Until, tired of the conversation

And of the fading smile behind my eyes,

You float up above the table and the cups

To meet me,

And laughing, show me

How ridiculous we both look.

“The hiddenness between two people is swirlingly present in Problem in Space.”

—Eli Siegel
From Preface to Personal & Impersonal

From Personal & Impersonal

© 1959 by Terrain Gallery

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