Latitude
Latitude
Original Text
Phyllis Gotlieb, Red Blood, Black Ink, White Paper: new and
selected poems, 1961-2001 (Toronto: Exile Editions, 2002): 24. PS
8513.O77R33 Robarts Library
2maker a shaper
3of great currents of
4continents on paper
5seen from whatever
6angle resembled
7a tangle of embryos
8half-formed reassembled
9near strangled by
14imagination
16faint constellation
17grown to surprising
18stature? on paper
19by nature a proper
20tantrumtaker!
Notes
1] Gerhardus Mercator (1512-94), Latinized name of the Flemish geographer, Gerhard Kremer, whose planisphere, published in 1568 (termed "Mercator's Projection"), set the lines of longitude at right angles to the lines of latitude and so improved the art of navigation. Back to Line
10] circulus equinoctialis: the equator. Back to Line
11] tropicus capricorni: the Tropic of Capricorn, that latitude about 23.5 degrees south of the equator, the farthest southerly parallel at which the sun appears directly overhead. Back to Line
12] terra infantilis: the earth, unable to speak. Back to Line
13] theodolite: surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles. Back to Line
15] declivity: descending inclination. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1964
Publication Notes
Within the Zodiac (1964).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2003
Rhyme
Form
Special Copyright
Copyright 2002 Red Blood Black Ink White Paper Exile Editions