Conversation

is not like bowling,
is not hurling
an obdurate opinion
down a polished path,
is not toppling thick pins
which always revert
to their former positions
sooner or later.

Conversation
is not like bowling,
does not result
in each participant
picking up his undented,
unchanged, impenetrable
ball and heading home.

Conversation
is like weaving,
baskets perhaps,
reed stretching
into new positions,
one day a simple
over-two, under-two,
another day a complex
over-seven, under-four,
and what emerges
is newly shaped,
hybrid,
and useful.

Barbara Gregorich’s poetry has been published in Barnwood, Inkwell, the Christian Science Monitor, Peninsula Pulse, and Cricket and will appear in the Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar and Blue Collar Review. She is the author of numerous books for adults and for children. She lives in Chicago and in Door County.