Relative Distance

By Luisa A. Igloria on August 2, 2024

The shortest distance between two points is
a line but the shortest distance between you
and the poem or the novel you say you want
to write (someday, not today) is the first 
word you write on the page or on the screen,
after you hear the couple next door fighting
about one or another thing as they always
seem to do this time of day while a baby
cries somewhere in the background. 

But what is the square of the hypotenuse 
of the right angles formed by a memory of your 
mother humming as she worked at her sewing
machine, the sound of your father laughing 
late at night while watching the Lucy and Desi
Comedy Hour in his bathrobe; and the first 
sirens that split day from night after 
the Declaration of Martial Law? 

The word theorem comes from the Greek 
theorema, meaning to look at and see. 
The Pythagorean theorem has been used 
in architecture to ascertain the stability 
and precision of structures, from pyramids 
to skyscrapers. You can calculate the roof
height and pitch angle, but as some 
photography tricks show, what you see
is not always how it is. 

You can stand at one end of the garden
and I can stand on the porch steps so
when I angle my palm a certain way,
it would seem you are perched 
in the hollow of my hand. 
An observer could say this
is also true.