See You in the Dark: Poems

How to Approach a New Idea

27 HOW TO APPROACH A NEW IDEA By stealth, on tiptoe holding your breath not to scare or waken too abruptly rousing fear of being roughly mauled or scarred, crudely taken, and ensnared. Use discretion when it quivers, soothe its trembling with assurance of respect and every due consideration for its subtlety and guarded possibilities, its secret convolutions its future evolutions. Once you cup it in your palm keep it warm, never rushing lightly touching. If you prod or hasten it will crouch and curl. Let it unfurl in its time, exposing each striation. 28 If it trusts you it will yield intimate initiation— what unparalleled elation. ...