#the math campers

Dan Chiasson’s The Math Campers, to come this fall, is a book in part about fatherhood and adolescence—his own, his kids’, and the new freedoms as well as existential threats that shape their world. Today’s poem, from a multipart piece entitled “Over & Over,” is dedicated to his sons.

from “Over & Over”

my awareness seems to extend this day
   past the trap my body set for me
past its small, pitiful adjustments
   of head here wings here antennae here

what does it matter, the head and wings
   and antennae if my awareness
soars over the tops of the pines
   with their spiny flowers still green

like a drone flown by a teenage pilot
   over the rooftops, silent yawp
past near meadows over the stop and shop
   its dragonfly landing gear ready

now it zooms in on the roots which grip
   the soil and feed on its decay
your hand and mine at the same angle
   you there, in the future, fleeing me

More on this book and author:

• Learn more about Dan Chiasson’s forthcoming collection, The Math Campers
• Browse other books by Dan Chiasson and catch up with him on Twitter, @dchiasso
• Share this poem and peruse other poems, audio recordings, and broadsides in the Knopf poem-a-day series
• To share the poem-a-day experience with friends, pass along this link