I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miro By Moniza Alvi

I would like to be a dot in a painting by Miro. Barely distinguishable from other dots,

it’s true, but quite uniquely placed.

And from my dark center. I’d survey the beauty of the linescape

And wonder-would it be worthwhile

To roll myself towards the lemon stripe, Centrally poised, and push my curves

against its edge, to get myself

a little extra attention?

But it’s fine where I am.

I’ll never make out what’s going on

around me, and that’s the joy of it.

The fact that I’m not a perfect circle

makes me more interesting in this world.

People will stare forever-

Even the most unemotional get excited.

So here I am, on the edge of animation,

A dream, a dance, a fantastic construction,

A child’s adventure.

And nothing in this tawny sky

can get too close, or move too far away.

From “Scanning the Century: The Penguin Book of the Twentieth Century in Poetry,” edited by Peter Forbes (Penguin: 596 pp., $22.95)