Visionary — Summary

Dave BontaContemplative

to see the poor as us to see double

the world like a breast and the body as odd a sight as well water

to see something fleet and let be

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.

Bonta's "Visionary" is a short list of ways to see more truly, and it redefines what a visionary is. Nothing here is a prophet's grand vision. It is a set of small, strange adjustments to ordinary looking.

The first line asks us to see the poor as "us," to drop the distance that lets us treat other people as a separate group. "To see double" could mean holding two views at once, or noticing the layers in a single thing. The middle stanza is more sensual and odd. The world is compared to a breast, something nourishing and close, and the body is called as "odd a sight / as well water," which suggests that our own flesh, like water drawn from deep down, is mysterious once we really look at it.

The poem ends quietly: to see something fleeting "and let be." The mood is calm and humble. The speaker seems to value attention without grasping, noticing a passing thing and leaving it alone.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss