The Ecphorizer

Biology...

Margot Treitel

Issue #37 (September 1984)

Biology...

is not your field. But you like to think of
Mendel shaking pollen in his peas,
Darwin lifting a stone, looking under.

Some days you feel the source
move like a simple spliced-up worm
that carries parts of the same old story.

There's rat again running
your maze, a bee signals honey.

Duck, this ridiculous loving figure,
follows an orange balloon.

This head most like your head
lies open. Neurons self-destruct
like small appliances. But you like to

think of yourself as species that
adapts to change, selects

a few tools, a brilliant coat
of many colors. And as you move

from room to room, the house
lets in a little sun and air,
improves with age. The mirror
smiles back with infinite regress.

You're not a worm, a rat, a duck.

Many times now you've been told
you are yourself, alone, unlike
each of the many others of your kind,

which is why you alone
perform this miracle of asking
Who I am.

Contributor Profile

Margot Treitel

Margot Treitel has published her poetry in Chicago Review, Prairie Schooner, College English, Hollins Critic, and the Literary Review and a host of other magazines. She has also taught English in West Africa.

Letters

Issue #37 (September 1984)

Dear Editor:

This is to update my contribution, "Ceveat emptor," which appeared in the August 1982 issue of The Eck.

Foreign Service Institute language courses can be ordered from the National Audio-Visual Center of the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C. They will take Mastercard and Visa orders by phone. Their toll-free number is 800/638-1300.

Under the Reagan administration, GPO publications have gone up in price in an effort to lessen the budgetary deficits the Government is running up. The prices now charged for the FSI courses are therefore quite a bit higher than I indicated in my article. The first 15 units of the Spanish course, for instance, is now $70, which includes both the books and fifteen tape cassettes. By comparison, however, this 15-unit package can be purchased from American Express for $300.

Best to you,

Gareth Penn