Philosophers cannot let the landscape alone, but tour the world trying to rearrange it in an orderly way, not realizing that the world, ironically enough, is always in the process of rearranging itself...
—Helen Vendler


The still life in our pool
(A painted underwater scene
Involving plants we drew
From rubber shades of green

And blue) finally went to seed
This spring, and sprouted shapes we
Never counted on as submarine
(Monsters accidentally

Sprung from acetate and chlorine),
But at every stage
Ripples intervene

In our chaotic cage,
Making movies out of dives,
As our objects organize their lives.