Intersecting Circles Poem by Jerry Buckley

Do you recall, we learned in high school geometry class, that two circles might intersect in two imaginary points, a single degenerate point, or two distinct points?

And so I dreamed of a circle of life, unique from the other circles I had enclosed - concentric circles – ripples from a pebble thrown into a pool of water. I was a rock planet orbiting a star, constrained by its gravity, warmed by its light; yet fully and fatally detached; the distances between two bodies too vast to foster any merger.

Then, per chance one mid-summer’s evening, when I least suspected any geometry - outside the rotation of pitched ball, or the arch of a line drive - to have any relevance; my dreams intersected my waking realism - a non-concentric circle intersecting mine - an invasive meteor hurtling toward my space station. Or then, was it my blocking your dash toward home base that brought about the collision?

Therefore, two circles converged into a single degenerate point - where two worlds collide - and two distinct terrestrial bodies fell under the influence of gravity. Or was it magnetism? Tugging the two cores closer and closer, overlapping axis upon axis, diminishing the total diameter of the coupled union, as the merger constricted.

Two dissimilar circumferences, adapting to spaces allotted on a grid; yours expanding as mine contracts. Two intersecting circles impelled by forces of nature until merged into a single orb.

“Voice of One”@ Jerry Buckley