Contents | March 2004

More on poetry from The Atlantic Monthly.


The Atlantic Monthly | March 2004
 
The Diamond Cutter

by Thomas Lux
 
 .....
 
audioear pictureHear the author read this poem (in RealAudio)


 Through the loupe or peepstone it's there: a mini-
dot of air
and, when light shines through
the object, the gletz is visible, via microscope, x-ray scope.
It's a flaw, diminishing
an object: when light,
unimpeded,
passes through it,
the object's brilliance
is most brilliant. A gletz affects
clarity, affects merit.
It's best if no gletz can be found at all.
The gletz's place matters—higher up: bad news,
lower: less-bad news.
They indicate fragility,
these breathless, cell-sized cells
where two inmates are locked
and each has a knife.


What do you think? Discuss this article in Post & Riposte.
Thomas Lux's new book, The Cradle Place, in which this poem appears, will be published this month.
Copyright © 2004 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; March 2004; The Diamond Cutter; Volume 293, No. 2; 62.