FOR FUN - “Arts & Sciences,” a poem by one of our own

“Arts & Sciences”

by Traci Brimhall, K-State English professor and Kansas Poet Laureate

What if this time I don’t begin with a requiem
or a memento mori with a split pomegranate
and a harem of flies? What if instead I tell you

a sleeping octopus changes colors while dreaming,
or how my gender is sable and softens with all
the gorgeous etceteras of age. No one guessed

a chameleon’s tongue measured longer than
its body, but it unscrolled beyond tail, beyond
reasonable need. We wanted the mystery