Poet Dances with Inanimate Objects

Poet Dances with Inanimate Object

BY CORNELIUS EADY

for Jim Schley

The umbrella, in this case;
Earlier, the stool, the
Wooden pillars that hold up
the roof.

This guy, you realize,
Will dance with anything—
—He likes the idea.

Then he picks up some lady’s discarded sandals,
Holds them next to his head like sea shells,
Donkey ears.

Nothing,
his body states,
Is safe from the dance of ideas!


This poem is a great example of an object poem, not because it is in the title, but because of how the poet dances between many types of objects. Despite the multitude of objects in the poem they all relate to the characters childlike demeanor.

Bryan Zebleckes