Sensible Qualities

It took the sea to prove a magnitude agreed on,

And since those who ventured that far disagreed, slashed each

Other’s limbs when lies mismatched and one man’s serpent

Dwarfed another’s, our sphere of argument contracts:

In fields on their hands and knees, growing through

Tall grasses meant to yellow undisturbed, empiricists

Pack beetles into sample bags, counting legs, making notes

In shorthand. Lightning apprehension is the goal.

Prolonged examination changes things, they die and change,

The changed observer dies, death’s meaning changes,

Complexities accumulate for future offspring bred

To sort them out in minutes cleared between the gathering

Of fuel and nourishment. Our legacy. The quality

Of known phenomena dwindles through forgetfulness to one

Unbudging core, what sight obliges us to measure out.

-Fred Muratori