Antithesis 62 — Summary

into the scour and prying strange ears found their portion of feet

a noise like diamonds improvise galloping pilgrimage across a caught between

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

Don't expect a story here. The poem works more like a collage of sounds and sensations, and it asks you to follow the music of the words rather than a plot. It opens with harsh, grinding language, "scour and prying", as if something is being scraped or forced open. Then the images get strange: ears that find "their portion of feet," as though hearing and walking have merged into one body.

The second stanza turns bright and restless. A "noise like diamonds" suggests something hard, glittering, and sharp, while "galloping pilgrimage" combines speed with a slow, purposeful journey. The poem ends on "a caught between," an unfinished phrase that leaves us hanging in a gap.

The speaker doesn't state a feeling outright. Judging by the language, the mood is one of tense curiosity: movement, friction, and searching, without a clear destination. It's unsettling but also playful, and it invites you to enjoy the oddness rather than solve it.

Read also

More by Jim Leftwich

All poems
CheerfulJim Leftwich

Not This

bat horoscope flounder beach azalea jesters swerve akin dendrites arrayed
DreamyJim Leftwich

Thesis 52

the voyage ka looks across the loan storm foam while miraculous as corn was found among our collective pianos
ContemplativeJim Leftwich

Thesis 92

duration how can we speak of eclipse worship