The Arrow Paradox

by Mark Jarman, Centennial Professor of English, emeritus

The Arrow Paradox

Zeno sent

his arrow flying

endlessly from point

to point along its arc

to make a point

about eternity:

getting there is tricky.

 

That’s what I think

anyway, as snowflakes

stall in the morning’s

freezing air

like seed fluff

reluctant to drop

anchor in the ice.

 

I’m watching that

tentative descent

though I’m in motion

and counter-motion

even as I follow

my pen’s blue notes

and think I’m not—

 

not doing anything,

not going anywhere

much farther

than my own flight

across the blank

momentum

of the turning page.

By Mark Jarman, Centennial Professor of English, emeritus

Mark Jarman’s most recent books are the poetry collection The Heronry and the essay collection Dailiness: Essays on Poetry. “The Arrow Paradox” appeared in the June 2021 issue of The Atlantic.