A Double Vision

A Double Vision

Original Text
Phyllis Gotlieb, The Works: Collected Poems (Toronto: Calliope Press, 1978): 17.
2at the round oracle of my spectacular world
3I note that my right eye has a tendency to emphasize
4the dominant colours and my
5left the recessives
6(so that what's plain to one eye
8for instance: what's blood to my good right eye
9is tomato juice to my left
10and where my left eye
11sees the hard blue sky
12it's summer haze to the sight
13of my right.
15and the other guarantees he's
16anaemic;
17the left eye declares:
18silver threads, my dear, you are growing old;
19and the right eye swears
20sweetheart, there's nothing but gold.
21I only praise God for the light
22and I take my sight
23as I see it;
24                  but there
25may be a moral in this somewhere.

Notes

1] diplopic: a condition in which the eyes see two images of one thing. Back to Line
7] purled: embroidered with gold or silver thread. Back to Line
14] febrile, feverish. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1964
Publication Notes
Within the Zodiac. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2002
Special Copyright

Copyright The Works: Collected Poems of Phyllis Gotlieb Calliope Press, 1978