Sunday, April 26, 2020

Inside Reverse Fold

Bend here, crease there
Opposite to the end game
Don’t go out, don’t play
And you’ll be safe another day
It feels backwards
                                    It feels unbearable
Just follow the instructions
                                    Just trust the process
This is how you fold a swan
                                    This is how you survive a pandemic

This can’t possibly be right
                                    I can’t bend that way
                                    I’m stretched too thin already
I’ll rip in half
                                    These creases run too deep
                                    To ever reverse
Is this really how you fold a swan?
                                    Is all this really worth it
                                    When no one knows the ending?

So many complicated internal folds
                                    Such a convoluted internal dance
To coax the grace of a bird
From this flat white square
                                    Why do we even keep trying?
                                    Who wrote these instructions?

Just when you think
This is never going to work
Suddenly
The whole piece shifts
One reverse fold pops out
                                    In sharp relief
Then another
                                    Just when you think
                                    It’s beyond hope
                                    And it’s time to give up
You coax the reversals
                                    Massage the creases
                                    The way they were always
                                    Meant to fold
Watch them transform
Before your eyes

                                    And lo!
The ugly duckling
Rises to claim its grace
                                    A swan at last.

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