VARIANCE
by Michael Langston

The flatness of water suggests itself all over:
In rivers, in puddles, in lakes, in seas…
All over…over and over.
And the world is at variance with the flatness,
All around…around the water:
In hills, in slopes, in fields, in trees
That surround…surround the water.

(The thinness of air is different from both.)

The blue noonday sky projects itself downward
With the greenery of summer at variance with its blueness.
The movement of insects disturbs the still twilight.
The dance of the fireflies is revealed in the moonlight
By the darkness of night at variance with their radiance.

Above, the stars vary with the black silence.