Poem: Shin Yu Pai

Here's a delightful little poem by Shin Yu Pai, a poet with whom I share a publisher (1913 Press, which has all kinds of great new books out). She works not only in a range of forms but across media. She is an artist in every sense, and knows how to draw profundity out of simplicity. Here's her little poem about conversation between artists that is a poem about visual art, poetry, and thus art itself. Enjoy.

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN HUIDOBRO AND BRAQUE

Is a poem a poem? 
And isn’t an orange just an orange,
and not an apple?

Yet next to each other, the orange 
ceases to be orange
the apple ceases to be apple,
and together the two 
become fruit.

Copyright © Shin Yu Pai. First published in Gastronomica and later published Equivalence (La Alameda, 2003).