Robert Donohue

The Gordian Knot
 
Back in the eighties, everything revolved
Around the Rubik's Cube. All day we tried
To get the colors matching on one side,
But with a twist, our efforts were dissolved.
What kept us going was it could be solved
If you were someone fortune had supplied
With brains enough. Without, we still applied
Ourselves: obsessed, determined and resolved.

Now playing with it, I would learn its tricks,
And jostled right, the thing would fall apart,
Leaving its core, along with little bricks,
Which reassembled brought you to the start.
How bold I thought I was, who with my cheat,
Could make the cube perfected and complete.

Robert Donohue’s poetry has appeared in Amethyst Review, The Asses of Parnassus, and delicate emissions, among others. He lives on Long Island, NY.