ISSUE ELEVEN | FALL 2018
In 1954, Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel following the Geneva Accords.
“We can describe intuitively their characteristics, but there is no set definition for [the line and the point]: they, along with the plane, are the undefined terms of geometry. All other geometric definitions and concepts are built on the undefined ideas of the point, line and plane. Nevertheless, we shall try to define them.” – Wikibooks page titled “Geometry/Points, Lines, Line Segments and Rays”
The distance between two parallel lines is myth
Assuming the lines exist in a single plane, this myth is the free zone
Free means demilitarized
Zone means area
Say normal
Say we do not exist
Say how
A closed line segment is bound by two endpoints
A single point can have an unlimited number of lines passing through it
A line performs division
runs infinitely
Its other job is political
When two lines intersect, the distance between them contracts to zero
If two lines do not exist in a single plane, they are considered skewed
The distance between two skewed lines is memory
Say in living memory
in loving memory
Say why do you expect us to exist
We define ourselves in relation to one another although we are indefinable
Remembering a place that no longer exists requires distance myth
A line is drawn and then erased
Say we lived unbounded until we lived on one side
Say a single memory has no endpoints
Susan Nguyen hails from Virginia but currently lives and writes in the desert. She is the poetry editor for Hayden's Ferry Review and is the recipient of the Aleida Rodriguez Memorial Award in Creative Writing and several fellowships from the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. She was a finalist for the 2018 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. Her work can be found in PANK, diode, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Visit her at girlpoet.co
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