[Martin Rocek]

Sorry to be boring, but I have to join the chorus--brilliant. Clever and poignant, and perfectly crafted. I haven't seen it, so I don't know who the author is, but thank you!

p.s. I hope no one minds the irreverence, but the poem did make me recall the joke about the student's answer to a question about the Pythagorean theorem: Here it is!

[Susan McLean]

Wow, this is a delightful list poem, with a great turn at the end (which is a real accomplishment in a list poem)! I am impressed with how many different meanings of X the author managed to include, and with how many of them seem to bear added meaning once you reach the end.

Susan

[Charlie Southerland]

Devastating poem. I would find this one hard to beat. The DG has upped his game.

[Tim Murphy]

Simply superb, killer close. The poet is totally in control of this Dakota reader.

[Brian Watson]

Originally Posted by Mary McLean

The lines with the least impact for me were 7 and 12, just because I don't fully understand them. I'm guessing L7 is the way they record something in baseball, but I thought it was strikes, which doesn't seem to tally with the team losing the ball. But I'm relatively happy to let sports metaphors wash over me misunderstood, whereas I feel like I ought to understand something about infinity. Can anyone help me?

I understand L12 because a draft of this was workshopped here before: the crux of the sign for infinity forms an 'x'. As for L7, chalkboard diagrams of football plays designate the defenders with X's and the offensive side with circles (a wild guess by a non-sports fan confirmed by googling).

[Mary McLean]

Aha! Thanks Brian, that was bothering me.

[Siham Karami]

Wow, this is breathtaking! I love it. Definitely my favorite, and as mentioned above, will be hard to beat. This takes us to the next level with its unusual insights and its killer close. Nit-free.

[Andrew Szilvasy]

This is fantastic. Nobody has commented on how interestingly it takes the Shakespearean sonnet's basic outline, but grafts the enveloping rhyme of the Petrarchan (I assume because it's already been workshopped). Aside from being an interesting variation, it wonderfully adds to the meaning.

1. That the enveloping rhyme, like hands within one another, come unclasped in the couplet.
2. Even more so, the chiastic rhyme creates an X of it's own.

[Ron]

...............

[Matt Q]

[quote=Catherine Chandler;380757Actually, line 12 is the most inspired list item of all, and, if I understand correctly (limits approaching infinity = 2x), a brilliant segue into the final couplet.[/QUOTE]

I'd read it that x is a part of the infinity symbol. It's clever either way.