Balance

slides were my favorite. one in Irving Park, 
one on a hillside in Claxton Bay, 
under canopy of trees, part slide, part tunnel—
but I’m thinking of the seesaw today 
  
one on a hillside in Claxton Bay—
lever, a simple machine of sides shifting. 
I’m thinking of that seesaw today: 
balance, lifting weight and lowering  
  
lever, a simple machine of sides shifting. 
battered dry good scale in Pa Lee’s shop 
balance, lifting weight and lowering, 
doing the magic of measuring, making even—
  
battered dry good scale in Pa Lee’s shop 
one demi-bowl, one shelf, round metal weights 
doing the magic of measuring, making even—
enough flour or rice for Miss Melda to make a meal  

one demi-bowl, one shelf, round metal weights 
teaching what fair, what even looks like—
enough flour or rice for Miss Melda to make a meal 
proof we can find balance from one low, one high 

Copyright © 2024 by Anton Nimblett. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 4, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“I wrote ‘Balance’ as part of a small series based on six simple machines—the wheel, wedge, pulley, screw, inclined plane, and lever. The poem springs from the richness of writing alongside a group during WordXWord’s 30x30 challenge in April, for which participants write a poem based off of a prompt provided each day during the month. I also challenged myself to write a pantoum and was surprised that I found the form to be generative, rather than constraining. Here, viewing the lever as a seesaw, I invoke childhood joys. In the end, that allows me to contemplate inequality with childlike simplicity—perhaps necessary when working to disturb long-standing societal woes. This counterbalances my more ready adult cynicism.”
—Anton Nimblett