Much mischief flows from misapprehension
Of the meaning of representation
The problem stems from the variable usage of the prefix re
Which sometimes means again but sometimes means back
We give schoolchildren the former construal
The latter requires some evolution of thought apparently
If you reread this poem you will read it again
But if you return to it tomorrow you do not turn again
You turn back
Similarly retracting is not drawing or pulling again
But drawing back
Like that flap of chest tissue during my heart surgery
A magnolia with three boles and a few plump ivory flowers
Is present to me now right outside my open window
I represent it to you in language now
But language cannot make the tree present again
Anywhere or anywhen else than now in the near back yard
My representation is thus a reference
I attempt with my words to carry your consciousness back
To this thing that you have never seen nor never will
This magnolia flowered and triple-boled