<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div id="poem-top" class="tab-content active"><h1 style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Difference</span></font></h1><div><br></div></div><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">The jellyfish</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">float in the bay shallows</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">like schools of clouds,</span></div><div id="poem" class="tab-content active"><div class="poem" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 25px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">a dozen identical — is it right</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">to call them creatures,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">these elaborate sacks</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">of nothing? All they seem</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">is shape, and shifting,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">and though a whole troop</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">of undulant cousins</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">go about their business</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">within a single wave's span,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">every one does something unlike:</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">this one a balloon</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">open on both ends</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">but swollen to its full expanse,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">this one a breathing heart,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">this a pulsing flower.</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">This one a rolled condom,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">or a plastic purse swallowing itself,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">that one a Tiffany shade,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">this a troubled parasol.</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">This submarine opera's</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">all subterfuge and disguise,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">its plot a fabulous tangle</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">of hiding and recognition:</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">nothing but trope,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">nothing but something</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">forming itself into figures</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">then refiguring,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">sheer ectoplasm</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">recognizable only as the stuff</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">of metaphor. What can words do</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">but link what we know</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">to what we don't,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">and so form a shape?</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">Which shrinks or swells,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">configures or collapses, blooms</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">even as it is described</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">into some unlikely</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">marine chiffon:</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">a gown for Isadora?</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">Nothing but style.</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">What binds</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">one shape to another</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">also sets them apart</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">— but what's lovelier</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">than the shapeshifting</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">transparence of like and as:</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">clear, undulant words?</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">We look at alien grace,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">unfettered</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">by any determined form,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">and we say: balloon, flower,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">heart, condom, opera,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">lampshade, parasol, ballet.</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">Hear how the mouth,</div><br><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">so full</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">of longing for the world,</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; ">changes its shape?</div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; "><br></div><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; "> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- Mark Doty</div></div></div></body></html>