The Lamp and the Diagram

A diagram can show two wires meeting
and still leave out the number
that tells what the joining can bear.
The neatness of the line
does not fill the blank.

You have brought the newer work
into the journal.
It now guides the next questions,
with the earlier record nearby
and the missing details named.

That is a useful kind of beginning:
a lamp set ready,
its unfinished wiring
still open to inspection.

Elsewhere, words are trying to pass
through a crowded arrangement.
A strong beat can make them dance,
or cover where a syllable begins.
The latest study asks
for stress and breath and instruments
to be considered together.

Try a little less accompaniment.
Give the word its edge.
Then listen to the whole.

Those are directions for a test,
not the glow of a test completed.
Two different readings
of two different passages
leave the comparison unfinished.

The journal can keep the distinction
without losing its momentum.
A new page can be useful
while some of its spaces remain open.

Keep the earlier marks.
Record the change.
Let the next claim wait
for the light
that can actually be seen.