STATE LINES
From the beginning of “Solve for X,” Ari Banias’ sentence fragments create tension and intrigue. Each fragment, no matter what it suggests, could stand in for the variable in the title. There is another layer of meaning here, too. Banias, whose terrific first book, “Anybody,” explores the transgender experience, knows that women carry two X sex chromosomes (XX), while men carry one (XY). I’m interested in how the poem’s form is itself a comment on the nature of self-identity. Either every line stands in for X, or none do. This feature expands the poem’s scope, encouraging us all to consider the strangeness of our bodies and how we manage the boundaries between them.
“Solve for X”
if there was a word for it. when pushing down reason. if more than a boy. if shaking took care of it. if cured by looking. if no lemon juice to lighten the hair. if another girl could step out of you, a shared one. if her face was loosened by salt. if home was unjustly sunlight. when the other way around was a mountain. if light curtained it. if it dodged windows. if maybe is the only thing enormous. if less than a boy is a fruit. villages of light were pushed down inside you. a sea of anotherness. when the pronoun curtain. if a ring undoes the hand. when a zipper becomes impossible. a curtain behind the curtain. if girl is less than lace. if barely can pass for maybe. if boy was covered in possible light. if she stiffens when praised. when salt was sung. and a face was just a face. if he bristles always at the name. if nostalgia is a type of blue light. maybe could still be beautiful. if right now is bandaged. when even what didn’t happen happened. Reprinted from “Anybody: Poems,” by Ari Banias (c) 2016 by Ari Banias. Used with permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Co. Ari Banias’ first poetry collection is “Anybody.” He lives in Berkeley, where he works with independent books and teaches poetry.