This admirable gadget, when it
Wound on a string and spun with steady force,
Maintains its balance on most any
Surface, pleasantly humming as it goes.
It is whirled not on a constant course, but
Stands in unshivering
For quite some time, meaning nothing
But being something agreeable to watch,
A silver nearly silence gleaning a still-ness out of speed, composing
From spin, so that its hollow spaces
Solids of light, until it wobbles
Begins to whine, and then with an odd
Eccentric and reckless, it skids
And drops dead into its own skeleton.
Howard Nemerov was born on February 29th, 1920 in New York.
He died of cancer at his home in University City,
Missouri on July 5th 1991.
