Our subjects were nice. We kept
our distance. We brewed detachment
in bottles. "We kept our distance"

is an anecdote. Her name

is Anecdote. She was born in the study.
Cages, bottles. Books all around.

She was our favorite / forbid us

to see her. She was the muse
for the bottles marked "Distance"

from which we drank. Could not

get by without. We buried the results;
they were dead. It was painless

for us. Thanks

to detachment. Our hypothesis held up
a snapshot. Braces, barrettes.


About this poem
"'Oversight' uses the language of psychological experiments to talk about the ways our desire for knowledge can obfuscate reality. The speakers here are imaginary scientists. They are worried about objectivity, about what is truly knowable and provable. The human desire for facts might require an element of cruelty."
-Melissa Ginsburg

About Melissa Ginsburg
Melissa Ginsburg is the author of "Dear Weather Ghost" (Four Way Books, 2013). She teaches at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

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The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2015 Melissa Ginsburg. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate