Scatter

Abstract

Have you ever felt lost while the world keeps moving around you? Scatter explores the tension between the mundane and the contemplative, using everyday imagery to reflect on apathy, disconnection, and longing. The poem moves through moments like a cat devouring the newspaper, the rhythmic sounds of a sink dripping, the simple act of buttering toast, and a man sweeping dust into dust—each fragment capturing a slice of ordinary life. These moments evoke philosophical reflections on time, memory, and the search for meaning in a world that feels distant. The poem contrasts external events with the speaker’s internal experience, mainly through the metaphor of egg yolk binding the tongue and oceanic brine representing an unattainable ideal. Scatter meditates on existing between moments, where meaning often slips through our grasp, yet the search for it endures.